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Aggressive Ural owl mothers recruit more offspring

Author

Listed:
  • Pekka Kontiainen
  • Hannu Pietiäinen
  • Kalle Huttunen
  • Patrik Karell
  • Heikki Kolunen
  • Jon E. Brommer

Abstract

Animals are thought to adjust their behavior optimally to any given environment. So-called behavioral syndromes, or consistent patterns of behavior across environments, contradict this assumption of unlimited plasticity. We studied nest defense aggressiveness of female Ural owls (244 females with 482 breeding attempts) breeding in a highly variable environment created by fluctuations in the abundance of their main prey (field and bank voles) across years. Ural owls were more aggressive when voles were increasing in density as well as when the Ural owls had large brood sizes and laid early in the season. Aggressive nest defense was highly repeatable between breeding attempts (r = 0.52 ± 0.05 standard error), but individuals also differed in their plasticity (the extent to which they adjusted the level of their aggression to the varying food conditions). Fierce nest defenders produced more recruits to the local breeding population, but a female's survival was not affected by her intensity of nest defense. A path analysis revealed that nest defense aggressiveness, rather than its correlates vole abundance, brood size, or laying date, best explained offspring recruitment. Our findings provide an ultimate explanation for the Ural owl's extremely aggressive nest defense. Copyright 2009, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Pekka Kontiainen & Hannu Pietiäinen & Kalle Huttunen & Patrik Karell & Heikki Kolunen & Jon E. Brommer, 2009. "Aggressive Ural owl mothers recruit more offspring," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 20(4), pages 789-796.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:20:y:2009:i:4:p:789-796
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/arp062
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Gabrielle Dubuc-Messier & Denis Réale & Philippe Perret & Anne Charmantier, 2017. "Environmental heterogeneity and population differences in blue tits personality traits," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 28(2), pages 448-459.
    2. Anders Pape Møller & Jan Tøttrup Nielsen, 2014. "Parental defense of offspring and life history of a long-lived raptor," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25(6), pages 1505-1512.
    3. Jon E. Brommer & Patrik Karell & Kari Ahola & Teuvo Karstinen, 2014. "Residual correlations, and not individual properties, determine a nest defense boldness syndrome," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25(4), pages 802-812.
    4. Nolwenn Fresneau & Edward Kluen & Jon E. Brommer, 2014. "A sex-specific behavioral syndrome in a wild passerine," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 25(2), pages 359-367.
    5. Chloé Monestier & Nicolas Morellet & Jean-Michel Gaillard & Bruno Cargnelutti & Cécile Vanpé & A.J. Mark Hewison, 2015. "Is a proactive mum a good mum? A mother’s coping style influences early fawn survival in roe deer," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 26(5), pages 1395-1403.
    6. Christina Rockwell & Pia O. Gabriel & Jeffrey M. Black, 2012. "Bolder, older, and selective: factors of individual-specific foraging behaviors in Steller’s jays," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(3), pages 676-683.
    7. David F. Westneat & Matthew Schofield & Jonathan Wright, 2013. "Editor's choice Parental behavior exhibits among-individual variance, plasticity, and heterogeneous residual variance," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 24(3), pages 598-604.

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