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Paternal investment inversely related to degree of extra-pair paternity in the reed bunting

Nature volume 371, pages 698–700 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

EXTRA-PAIR copulations, in which a female copulates with a male other than her mate, are known to occur in many bird species1. Here we study a wild population of reed buntings, Emberiza schoeniclus, using single-locus DNA fingerprinting2,3 and find an exceptionally high proportion of extra-pair paternity that accounts for 55% (118/216) of young and 86% (50/58) of nests. Twelve pairs each raised two broods in a single season in which the proportion of extra-pair young differed between the two broods. A highly significant relationship between a male's parental investment and his degree of paternity was revealed by a comparison between the first and second brood of each pair, with more paternal care usually being provided at the nest that contained a lower proportion of extra-pair young. We propose that males can assess their likelihood of paternity and adjust their nestling provisioning rates accordingly.

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Author notes

  1. Sean L. C. O'Malley

    Present address: Waltham Centre for Pet Nutrition, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE14 4RT, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Leicester, Leicester, LEI 7RH, UK

    Andrew Dixon, Douglas Ross, Sean L. C. O'Malley & Terry Burke

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  1. Andrew Dixon
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  2. Douglas Ross
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  3. Sean L. C. O'Malley
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  4. Terry Burke
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Dixon, A., Ross, D., O'Malley, S. et al. Paternal investment inversely related to degree of extra-pair paternity in the reed bunting. Nature 371, 698–700 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/371698a0

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