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Brood sex ratio adjustment in collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis): results differ between populations

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Abstract

Recently, a number of studies have found adaptive brood sex ratio (BSR) manipulation in birds. The reason for such manipulations is thought to be the different reproductive value of male and female nestlings. Several studies have found that parental quality and food supply can affect BSR, however results are sometimes inconsistent between species and populations. We investigated BSR patterns in a Hungarian population of Collared Flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis) and compared the results with those obtained in a previous study of the same species in Sweden. We found two significant differences. First, the male forehead patch size, a heritable, sexually selected trait, affected the brood sex ratio in the Swedish population, but not in our Hungarian study population. This difference might be a consequence of the different information content of the forehead patch size in the two populations. Second, a seasonal shift in BSR (more sons late in the season) was observed in the Hungarian, but not in the Swedish population.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Gergely Hegyi, Eszter Szöllősi and Rita Hargitai for their help in the field, Csaba Fekete, and David S. Richardson whose advice greatly helped the laboratory work, and Bengt Hansson who helped with statistical advice. The comments of two anonymous referees considerably improved the manuscript. The study was supported by the Hungarian State Eötvös Fellowship to B.R., the Hungarian Scientific Research Found (OTKA 34880) to J.T., the Swedish Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas), the Carl Trygger Foundation, the Crafoordska Foundation to D.H., the Swedish Research Council to S.B., the Eötvös Loránd University and the Pilis Park Forestry. The present study complies with the current laws of Hungary.

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Balázs Rosivall & János Török

  2. Molecular Ecology Group, Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, 223 62 , Lund, Sweden

    Dennis Hasselquist & Staffan Bensch

Authors
  1. Balázs Rosivall
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  2. János Török
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  3. Dennis Hasselquist
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  4. Staffan Bensch
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Correspondence to Balázs Rosivall.

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Communicated by J. Graves

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Rosivall, B., Török, J., Hasselquist, D. et al. Brood sex ratio adjustment in collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis): results differ between populations. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56, 346–351 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-004-0796-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-004-0796-3

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