TY - JOUR
T1 - Female-dependent factors affect sex allocation in Lesser Kestrels Falco naumanni
AU - Papakosta, Malamati A.
AU - Bakaloudis, Dimitrios E.
AU - Goutner, Vassilis
AU - Yosef, Reuven
AU - Kotsonas, Evangelos
AU - Iezekiel, Savvas
AU - Vlachos, Christos G.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 Authors. All rights reserved.
PY - 2023/1/1
Y1 - 2023/1/1
N2 - Abstract The sex ratio of nestlings is a crucial population determinant in rare and/or endangered species. We investigated the role of female body condition and female-related traits in Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) nestling sex allocation at a nest-box colony in central Greece. We used the total clutch volume and size, female weight, hatching dates, body length, wing length, tail length, tarsometatarsus, and bill length as explanatory variables of the number of male nestlings (the response variable) using CART model analysis. This analysis showed that the reproduction output was biased towards male nestlings when female parents were shorter in body length and clutch size and volume were smaller. The skewed sex ratio favoring females, 1:2.35, suggests that when female parents are in good condition, they invest most in good-quality female nestlings, providing a reproductive advantage and increased long-term fitness.
AB - Abstract The sex ratio of nestlings is a crucial population determinant in rare and/or endangered species. We investigated the role of female body condition and female-related traits in Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) nestling sex allocation at a nest-box colony in central Greece. We used the total clutch volume and size, female weight, hatching dates, body length, wing length, tail length, tarsometatarsus, and bill length as explanatory variables of the number of male nestlings (the response variable) using CART model analysis. This analysis showed that the reproduction output was biased towards male nestlings when female parents were shorter in body length and clutch size and volume were smaller. The skewed sex ratio favoring females, 1:2.35, suggests that when female parents are in good condition, they invest most in good-quality female nestlings, providing a reproductive advantage and increased long-term fitness.
KW - Lesser Kestrel
KW - female-biased
KW - sex allocation
KW - sex ratio
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153872132&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1163/22244662-bja10051
DO - 10.1163/22244662-bja10051
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85153872132
SN - 1565-9801
VL - 69
SP - 112
EP - 117
JO - Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution
JF - Israel Journal of Ecology and Evolution
IS - 3-4
ER -