ArticlePloS one2013
Costs and benefits of competitive traits in females: aggression, maternal care and reproductive success.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- The hormonal and neural control of maternal aggression.Current opinion in neurobiology · 2026Review
- Breeding-Related Changes in Social Interactions Among Female Vulturine Guineafowl.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Untangling behaviours: independent expressions of female-female aggression and snake-like hissing in the blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus).Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Females Are More Aggressive Than Males towards Same- and Opposite-Sex Intruders in the Blue Tit (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Mycophagous beetle females do not behave competitively during intrasexual interactions in presence of a fungal resource.Ecology and evolution · 2022Article
- Breeder aggression does not predict current or future cooperative group formation in a cooperatively breeding bird.Ethology : formerly Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie · 2021Article
- Sex Differences in How Territory Quality Affects Aggression in Convict Cichlids.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- Experimentally induced intrasexual mating competition and sex-specific evolution in female and male nematodes.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2020Article
- Partners coordinate territorial defense against simulated intruders in a duetting ovenbird.Ecology and evolution · 2020Article
- Nest defence behavioural reaction norms: testing life-history and parental investment theory predictions.Royal Society open science · 2019Article
- The developmental environment modulates mating-induced aggression and fighting success in adult femaleFunctional ecology · 2018Article
- Article
- The Female Perspective of Personality in a Wild Songbird: Repeatable Aggressiveness Relates to Exploration Behaviour.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- Article
- Individual variation in testosterone and parental care in a female songbird; the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis).Hormones and behavior · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Recent research has shown that female expression of competitive traits can be advantageous, providing greater access to limited reproductive resources. In males increased competitive trait expression often comes at a cost, e.g. trading off with parental effort. However, it is currently unclear whether, and to what extent, females also face such tradeoffs, whether the costs associated with that tradeoff overwhelm the potential benefits of resource acquisition, and how environmental factors might alter those relationships. To address this gap, we examine the relationships between aggression, maternal effort, offspring quality and reproductive success in a common songbird, the dark-eyed junco (Junco hyemalis), over two breeding seasons. We found that compared to less aggressive females, more aggressive females spent less time brooding nestlings, but fed nestlings more frequently. In the year with better breeding conditions, more aggressive females produced smaller eggs and lighter hatchlings, but in the year with poorer breeding conditions they produced larger eggs and achieved greater nest success. There was no relationship between aggression and nestling mass after hatch day in either year. These findings suggest that though females appear to tradeoff competitive ability with some forms of maternal care, the costs may be less than previously thought. Further, the observed year effects suggest that costs and benefits vary according to environmental variables, which may help to account for variation in the level of trait expression.
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