Male parent birds exert more effort to reproduce in two desert passerines  

作　　者：Donghui Ma Mengjie Lu Zhichang Cheng Xingnan Du Xiaoyu Zou Xingxing Yao Xinkang Bao 

机构地区：[1]School of Life Sciences,Lanzhou University,Lanzhou 730000,China

出　　处：《Avian Research》2021年第3期375-381,共7页鸟类学研究（英文版）

基　　金：Financial support was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grants 31672296 and 31172104).

摘　　要：Background:Parental investment by birds is limited by the habitat environment,and a male parent increases its effort to reproduce in birds that live in high-altitude areas.Methods:A study of the reproductive behaviour of the Saxaul Sparrow(Passer ammodendri)and the Isabelline Shrike(Lanius isabellinus)was carried out at the Gansu An’xi Extremely Arid Desert National Nature Reserve in northwest China to determine the reproductive input of passerine species in desert habitats.Results:In Saxaul Sparrows,compared to the female parent,the male parent exhibited a significantly higher fre-quency of nest-defense behaviour(chirping and warning)during nesting,hatching and feeding periods.In addition,in comparison to the female parent,the male parent exhibited almost equal frequencies of nesting and incubation but fed nestlings significantly more times.Similar to the male sparrows,the feeding rates of the male Isabelline Shrikes were significantly higher than those of the females.The hatching rate and fledging rate of the Saxaul Sparrow on aver-age in this study were 81.99 and 91.92%,respectively,while those of the shrike were 69.00 and 96.53%,respectively.Conclusions:These two different passerine species living in the same desert environment exhibited the same trend in their reproductive investments.Adapting to desert environments is a strategy that may have evolved in passerines where male parent birds put more effort than females into reproduction to ensure high reproductive output.

关 键 词：Behaviour Isabelline Shrike Parental investment Reproductive strategy Saxaul Sparrow 

分 类 号：Q958.1[生物学—动物学]