Dunnock Behaviour and Social EvolutionOxford University Press, 1992 - 272 páginas At first sight just a small brown bird, the dunnock's unobtrusive appearance belies its extraordinary behaviour and mating patterns. In this book Nick Davies gives a full account of the mating systems of the dunnock or hedge sparrow, Prunella modularis, which include pairs, a male with twofemales, two males with one female, and several males with several females. Detailed observations, elegant field experiments, and DNA fingerprinting are combined to show how this variable social organization arises from selfish individuals competing to maximize their own reproductive success.Further experiments reveal how the cuckoo may thwart the dunnock's parental efforts. David Quinn's exquisite drawings provide a visual summary of the birds' behaviour. All students of ecology, evolution, and animal behaviour will want to be familiar with this work, which addresses the wider issuesof the influence of ecology on mating systems and the evolutionary significance of conflict within and between species. This is the third volume in the Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution, and the first in this series to tackle behavioural ecology. Nick Davies is a Lecturer in Zoology at the University of Cambridge and co-editor with J.R. Krebs of the leading text in the field, Behavioural Ecology: An EvolutionaryApproach. |
Contenido
Population structure and the variable mating system | 24 |
competition for habitat and mates | 46 |
Factors influencing an individuals competitive success | 74 |
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Términos y frases comunes
2-tailed acorn woodpeckers adults alpha and beta alpha male Alpine accentors ANOVA behaviour beta male birds breeding attempts breeding season breeding territories Chapter chick feeding cloaca clutch copulation rate copulations cuckoo chick cuckoo eggs different mating systems discrimination DNA fingerprinting dunnocks egg laying example exclusive access experiments fed the brood feed the young feeder female territory female's full-time help gained mating access Garden habitat hatched Hatchwell and Davies increased incubation individuals influence male and female male feeds male help male removals male territories male's males gained males in polyandry males shared mate guarding mating access mating combinations mating period meadow pipits model eggs monogamous male monogamous pairs monopolise neighbouring males nest nestling weight number of young parental effort passerines polyandry and polygynandry polygyny predation provisioning rate reed warblers rejection reproductive success sexual conflict share of mating shows species sperm Table variable mating system young fledged