Assessing behavioral sex differences to chemical cues of predation risk while provisioning nestlings in a hole-nesting bird

PLoS One. 2022 May 19;17(5):e0268678. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0268678. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Birds can assess nest predation risk and adjust their parental activity accordingly. Risk taking behavior should be related to investment in reproduction as well as to confidence in parenthood that often differ between sexes. In those cases, sexual differences in risk taking behavior may be expected. For example, in blue tits, females invest more time and energy than males in nest-building, egg laying and incubation. Furthermore, confidence in parenthood is supposed to be higher for females, as extrapair paternity is common in this species. Therefore, the reproductive value of nestlings may be higher for females than for males and the former may assume greater risks to ensure nestling growth and maximize their reproductive success. We examined potential sexual differences in the risk assumed by parents in relation to perceived risk of predation inside the nest cavity, where predation risk perception may be higher. We increased perceived predation risk by adding predator chemical cues inside blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nest-boxes, and we tested whether female and male parents differed in the risk assumed when taking care of nestlings. Females and males did not differ in the risk assumed in response to perceived predation risk. However, females reduced time devoted to nest sanitation activities when predator chemical cues were detected inside the nest-box, likely as an anti-predatory strategy to minimize their own risk of predation. Therefore, these results add to the evidence that birds can detect chemical cues of predators inside the nest cavity and suggest that the behavioral response to an increase in risk of predation perceived through olfactory cues is not sex-dependent in blue tit.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cues
  • Female
  • Male
  • Nesting Behavior / physiology
  • Predatory Behavior* / physiology
  • Sex Characteristics
  • Songbirds*

Associated data

  • figshare/10.6084/m9.figshare.19735549.v1

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CGL2014-58890-P, CGL2017-89063-P). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.