Effect of group size on field metabolic rate of arabian babblers provisioning nestlings

Avner Anava, Michael Kam, Amiram Shkolnik, A. Allan Degen

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    8 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Arabian Babblers (Turdoides squamiceps; adult body mass 65-75 g) are territorial, cooperatively breeding passerines that inhabit hot, dry deserts. Groups include breeding adults and helpers and generally consist of 3 to 5 individuals (range 2 to 22). All group members provision nestlings at similar rates, and individual visitation rates decline with increasing group size. Consequently, we predicted that the field metabolic rate (FMR) of individuals provisioning nestlings would decrease with increasing group size. To test this prediction, we determined FMR of primary female, primary male, female helper and male helper babblers in different sized groups provisioning nestlings. Field metabolic rate of primary females, but not other classes, decreased linearly with group size. This energy savings could allow primary females in larger groups to start a new nest more quickly. FMR for all babblers was 61% to 66% of the value predicted for a passerine of its body mass provisioning nestlings and was 3.11 × BMR, similar to the mean value of 3.13 × BMR reported for a number of terrestrial species.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)376-380
    Number of pages5
    JournalCondor
    Volume103
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    StatePublished - 1 Jan 2001

    Keywords

    • Arabian Babbler
    • Cooperative breeding
    • Desert passerine
    • Field metabolic rate
    • Group size
    • Provisioning nestlings
    • Turdoides squamiceps

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
    • Animal Science and Zoology

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