Avian sibling cannibalism: Hoopoe mothers regularly use their last hatched nestlings to feed older siblings  

作　　者：Juan JoseSoler Manuel Martin-Vivaldi Sona Nuhlickova Cristina Ruiz-Castellano Monica Mazorra-Alonso Ester Martinez-Renau Manfred Eckenfellner Jan Svetlik Herbert Hoi 

机构地区：[1]Departamento de Ecologia Funcional y Evolutiva,Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas(EEZA-CSIC),Almeria E-04120,Spain [2]Unidad Asociada Coevolucion:Cucos,Hospedadores y Bacterias Simbiontes,Universidad de Granada,Granada E-18003,Spain [3]Departamento de Zoologia,Facultad de Ciencias,Universidad de Granada,Granada E-18003,Spain [4]Department of Ecology,Faculty of Natural Sciences,Comenius University,Bratislava SK-84215,Slovakia [5]Konrad Lorenz Institute of Ethology,Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences,University of Veterinary Medicine,Vienna A-1160,Austria

出　　处：《Zoological Research》2022年第2期265-274,共10页动物学研究（英文）

基　　金：supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia;Innovación y Universidades and European(FEDER)Funds(CGL2017-83103-P)。

摘　　要：Sibling cannibalism is relatively common in nature,but its evolution in birds and certain other vertebrates with extended parental care had been discarded.Here,however,we demonstrate its regular occurrence in two European populations of the Eurasian hoopoe(Upupa epops)and explore possible adaptive and non-adaptive explanations.Results showed that sibling cannibalism was more frequently detected in Spain(51.7%)than in Austria(5.9%).In these two populations,the hoopoes laid similar clutch sizes,resulting in similar fledging production,but hatching failures were more frequent in the northern population.Consequently,having more nestlings condemned to die in the southern population may explain the higher incidence of sibling cannibalism.In accordance with this interpretation,hatching span and failure,but not breeding date,explained the probability of sibling cannibalism in the Spanish hoopoes,while all three variables predicted brood reduction intensity.Furthermore,experimental food supply reduced the probability of sibling cannibalism,but not the intensity of brood reduction.Finally,females allocated fewer resources to the smallest nestlings when they were going to starve,but not necessarily when they were going to be used as food for their siblings.These results suggest that hoopoes produce extra eggs that,in the case of reduced hatching failure and food scarcity,produce nestlings that are used to feed older siblings.These findings provide the first evidence that sibling cannibalism occurs regularly in a bird species,thus expanding our evolutionary understanding of clutch size,hatching asynchrony,parent-offspring conflict,infanticide,and sibling cannibalism in the animal kingdom.

关 键 词：Brood reduction Clutch size Hatching asynchrony Ice-box hypothesis INFANTICIDE Siblicide Sibling hierarchy Upupa epops 

分 类 号：Q958.122[生物学—动物学]