Crj. Boland et al., EXPERIMENTAL MANIPULATION OF BROOD REDUCTION AND PARENTAL CARE IN COOPERATIVELY BREEDING WHITE-WINGED CHOUGHS, Journal of Animal Ecology, 66(5), 1997, pp. 683-691
1. White-winged choughs, Corcorax melanorhamphos (Vieillot), are oblig
ate cooperative breeders. Only very large groups routinely fledge all
their brood of three to four chicks, while small groups usually lose y
oung during the nestling period. Hatching asynchrony generates a weigh
t hierarchy within the brood, and small, late-hatched chicks are most
susceptible to mortality. 2, In order to examine the effects of food a
vailability on parental care and brood reduction, we provided suppleme
ntary food to groups during late incubation and the nestling phase. 3.
Food supplementation increased the rate of food delivery to the nest
by both breeders and helpers, leading to increased chick survival and
fledging, and reduced variance in chick size at fledging. Helpers with
supplemental food appeared more responsive to the need of chicks, inc
reasing food delivery rates as the chicks grew older, and as brood siz
e increased. 4. Control groups fed larger chicks preferentially, while
supplemented groups favoured small chicks. This suggests that choughs
deliberately manipulate the survival of individual young to maximize
the fledging of healthy chicks, consistent with Lack's hypothesis for
hatching asynchrony. 5. These data support the hypothesis that choughs
must breed in groups because they cannot provide enough food to nestl
ings without help. Hatching asynchrony and behavioural control over br
ood reduction allow choughs to maximize offspring production according
to group size and food availability.