科研之友
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摘要
We aimed to elucidate the factors that influence the frequency of adoption and infanticide in the Blue-footed Booby (Sula nebouxii), a seabird with biparental chick care and high chick-rearing costs. We obtained data from two colonies during four breeding seasons. In addition, we removed parents from their nests for short periods of time (10 min) and fitted their chicks with polyethylene foam protectors, in order to record chick behavior, particularly interactions with neighboring adults. Adoption and infanticide occurred mostly in zones of high nest density and during years of high breeding success. The chicks adopted were 20-40 days of age, the age at which they acquire mobility and parents still experience a certain inability to recognize them. Adopted chicks were slightly younger than chicks in the broods into which they were adopted. In most cases, adoptees were younger than their siblings in their natal broods. We also recorded short-term (lasting only a few hours) alloparental care for chicks older than 40 days. When we excluded parents from nests and their chicks were attacked, it was female neighbors that physically attacked them, whereas males were more prone to brood or preen them; therefore, the sex with certainty of parenthood was more prone to practice infanticide, presumably to avoid adoption. The lack of aggressiveness by males might be due to the possibility of paternity, given the occurrence of extra-pair copulations in this species.
- 出版日期2014-1
