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Escape ability and risk-taking behaviour in a Hungarian population of the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis)

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Abstract

Risk-taking decisions in front of a predator are crucial for the fitness of the animals. Risk-taking behaviour can be hypothesised to depend on escape ability, which is difficult to study in the wild. In this field study, we investigated whether escape ability (i) is a consistent individual-specific characteristic and (ii) can explain between-individual variation in risk-taking behaviour in male collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). We estimated escape ability by the time that was needed to capture individuals by hand in an outdoor aviary during both the courtship and the nestling feeding phases. We estimated risk-taking by human-induced flight initiation distance (FID) and parental nest-defence behaviour. We also measured variables that reflect individual quality and condition to assess how these affect escape ability. Time to capture was weakly repeatable in the within- and between-season contexts, but was considerably repeatable within a day. We found that time to capture decreased between courtship and nestling feeding phases, probably due to parallel changes in body condition (as shown by the systematic decline of individual body mass between phases correlating with within-individual changes in time to capture). Overall, time to capture was not significantly related to risk-taking behaviour, but we found a negative correlation between time to capture and FID in yearlings. In conclusion, escape ability in flycatchers seems to be a condition-dependent plastic trait, and it has the potential to affect immediate risk-taking decisions.

Significance statement

We investigated the proximate determinants of escape ability in collared flycatcher males and whether this trait can be a potential driver of risk-taking behaviour, which is a rarely considered issue. We measured escape ability as time needed to capture birds in an outdoor aviary by hand. We found that escape ability was repeatable only in a short-term context, and differed between the courtship and chick-feeding periods, probably due to parallel changes in body condition. Furthermore, escape ability in yearlings (but not in adults) correlated with an estimate of risk-taking in the wild indicating that males with better ability to escape take higher risk. Our findings highlight that individual decisions about risk-taking might partially rely on how individuals assess their potential escape success.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Behavioural Ecology Group of Eötvös Loránd University, especially Lilla Barabás, Nóra Boross, Gergely Hegyi, Dóra Kötél, Kata Krenhardt, Miklós Laczi, Gergely Nagy, Balázs Rosivall, Eszter Szöllősi, Éva Vaskuti and Sándor Zsebők for their help in the fieldwork. We thank also the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable and constructive comments. This study was conducted under a long-term research agreement with the Pilis Park Forestry (December 1988 and March 2007), and with research permits from the regional nature conservation authority (KTVF 509-4/2012, PE/KTF/11978-5/2015, PE/KTF/11978-10/2015). This study was supported by funds from the Hungarian National Research, Development and Innovation Office (K-75618, K-101611, K-105517 and K-115970) and by funds from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness in Spain (CGL2015-70639-P).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. sétány 1/C, Budapest, 1117, Hungary

    Mónika Jablonszky, Eszter Szász, Gábor Markó, János Török & Gábor Herczeg

  2. Department of Plant Pathology, Szent István University, Ménesi út 44, Budapest, 1118, Hungary

    Gábor Markó

  3. MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, Biological Institute, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. sétány 1/C, Budapest, 1117, Hungary

    Gábor Markó

  4. Department of Evolutionary Ecology, Estación Biológica de Doñana-CSIC, c/Americo Vespucio 26, 41092, Seville, Spain

    László Zsolt Garamszegi

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  1. Mónika Jablonszky
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  2. Eszter Szász
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  3. Gábor Markó
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  5. Gábor Herczeg
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  6. László Zsolt Garamszegi
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Correspondence to Mónika Jablonszky.

Ethics declarations

All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. Permissions for the fieldwork have been provided by the Middle-Danube-Valley Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, Nature Conservation and Water Management (ref. nos.: KTVF 16360-2/2007, KTVF 30871-1/2008, KTVF 43355-1/2008, KTVF 45116-2/2011, KTVF 21664-3/2011, KTVF 12677-4/2012 and KTVF 10949-8/2013) and was approved by the ethical committee of the Eötvös Loránd University (ref. no. TTK/2203/3).

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Jablonszky, M., Szász, E., Markó, G. et al. Escape ability and risk-taking behaviour in a Hungarian population of the collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 71, 54 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-017-2276-6

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