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Males are sensitive — sex-dependent effect of rearing conditions on nestling growth

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Abstract

The sex-dependent effect of environmental conditions on nestlings has been extensively studied in size dimorphic birds. Whether males or females are more sensitive to poor conditions is not yet clear; however, the degree of sexual size-dimorphism, brood size and their interactions seem to influence the pattern. Much less is known about sex-dependent environmental sensitivity in size-monomorphic species, even though it may result in biased sex allocation. We altered the rearing conditions by brood size manipulation in the size-monomorphic collared flycatcher and then examined the sex-specific development of the nestlings. In all analyses, we controlled for the effect of paternity, because one may expect extra-pair young to be of better genetic quality and perform better at least under poor conditions. However, this was not the case, because we did not find any difference in growth rate or fledging size between extra- and within-pair young. We found that male nestlings had the potential for faster growth under favourable conditions, but suffered more under poor conditions. We found no sex × environment interaction for fledging size probably because the growth curves level off before fledging, and the disadvantaged nestlings can catch up with their siblings. The larger sensitivity of males does not explain the previously found seasonal shift in brood sex ratios and contradicts previous findings in another size-monomorphic species where females were more sensitive. This suggests that even in size-monomorphic species, no general rule exists, which determines the more sensitive sex.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Gergely Hegyi, Rita Hargitai and Márton Herényi for their help in the field. The study was supported by the Hungarian State Eötvös Fellowship to B.R., the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund grants (OTKA T049650, F68295, PD75481), a Hungarian National Office for Research and Technology grant (OMFB-1513/2006), grants from the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Science and Spatial Planning (Formas), the Carl Trygger Foundation, Eötvös Loránd University, Lund University and Pilis Park Forestry.

Ethical notes

The authors declare that the experiment complies with the current laws of Hungary.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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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, Eszter Szöllősi & János Török

  2. Department of Animal Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, 22362, Lund, Sweden

    Dennis Hasselquist

Authors
  1. Balázs Rosivall
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  2. Eszter Szöllősi
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  3. Dennis Hasselquist
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  4. János Török
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Balázs Rosivall.

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Communicated by M. Leonard

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Rosivall, B., Szöllősi, E., Hasselquist, D. et al. Males are sensitive — sex-dependent effect of rearing conditions on nestling growth. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64, 1555–1562 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0969-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-0969-1

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