Dunnock Behaviour and Social Evolution

Erscheinungsjahr 1992
ISBN: 978-0-19-854675-7
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 286 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 442 g

Reihe: Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution

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 two females, 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 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 issues of 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 tackly 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 evolutionary approach.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Davies, N. B.

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tiergenetik, Reproduktion
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Wirbeltiere (Vertebrata) Vögel (Ornithologie)
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tierökologie
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Tierkunde / Zoologie Tierethologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Why Dunnocks?; Study species and study area; Population structure and the variable mating system; Territorial behaviour: competition for habitat and mates; Factors influencing an individual's competitive success; Mate guarding and mating: sexual conflict; Relating behaviour to maternity and paternity; Reproductive output from the different mating systems; Individual reproductive success in the various mating systems; Parental effort by males and females in pairs and
trios; How males allocate effort between broods in polygyny and polygynandry; Paternity and parental effort; Parasitism by Cuckoos; Sexual conflict, parental care, and mating systems; References; Author and subject index.