Jj. Sanz et al., Differential response by males and females to manipulation of partner contribution in the great tit (Parus major), J ANIM ECOL, 69(1), 2000, pp. 74-84
1. In birds with bi-parental care, handicapping is often assumed to decreas
e the amount of parental care of the handicapped partner. We discuss how ha
ndicapping could alter the shape of the handicapped bird's survival-effort
curve (theoretical curve relating the survival of a parent to its effort) a
nd show that the optimal response could yield a decrease, no response or ev
en an increase in effort of the handicapped bird.
2. Male or female great tits Parus major (L.) were handicapped during the n
estling period by clipping a number of feathers in order to study the effec
ts on parental care and body condition.
3. Handicapped males significantly decreased their feeding rates, while han
dicapped females did not. Condition of handicapped females significantly de
teriorated, while condition of handicapped males did not change during the
experiment. Females with a handicapped partner fully compensated for their
partner's decrease in work rate, while males with a handicapped partner did
not show any compensation and even tended to decrease their feeding rates.
4. Using an inverse optimality approach, we reconstructed the theoretical c
urve relating the survival of a parent to its effort on the basis of the ex
perimental effects. The handicapped male's survival-effort curve appeared t
o be slightly steeper than that of handicapped females. This suggests that
handicapped males suffer more from an increase in effort than handicapped f
emales.