ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2016
Egg size investment in superb fairy-wrens: helper effects are modulated by climate.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2016. 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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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Limited Lifetime Costs of Inbreeding in a Large Wild Population of Superb Fairy-Wrens.Molecular ecology · 2026Article
- Using Landsat Satellite Imagery to Investigate Spatial and Temporal Variation in Life History Traits in a Long-Term Study Population of Superb Fairy-WrensEcology and evolution · 2026Article
- Mothers in a cooperatively breeding bird increase investment per offspring at the pre-natal stage when they will have more help with post-natal care.PLoS biology · 2023Article
- Egg components and offspring survival vary with group size and laying order in a cooperative breeder.Oecologia · 2023Article
- Bird populations most exposed to climate change are less sensitive to climatic variation.Nature communications · 2022Article
- Contrasting associations between nestling telomere length and pre and postnatal helpers' presence in a cooperatively breeding bird.Oecologia · 2021Article
- Dehydration risk is associated with reduced nest attendance and hatching success in a cooperatively breeding bird, the southern pied babblerConservation physiology · 2021Article
- High temperatures drive offspring mortality in a cooperatively breeding bird.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- Cue identification in phenology: A case study of the predictive performance of current statistical tools.The Journal of animal ecology · 2019Article
- Nocturnal torpor by superb fairy-wrens: a key mechanism for reducing winter daily energy expenditure.Biology letters · 2019Article
- Multiple benefits of alloparental care in a fluctuating environment.Royal Society open science · 2018Article
- The relationship between egg size and helper number in cooperative breeders: a meta-analysis across species.PeerJ · 2017Article
- Egg size investment in superb fairy-wrens: helper effects are modulated by climate.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
- Helpers don't help when it's hot in a cooperatively breeding bird, the Southern Pied Babbler.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
- Interplay of cooperative breeding and predation risk on egg allocation and reproductive output.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Natural populations might exhibit resilience to changing climatic conditions if they already show adaptive flexibility in their reproductive strategies. In cooperative breeders, theory predicts that mothers with helpers should provide less care when environmental conditions are favourable, but maintain high investment when conditions are challenging. Here, we test for evidence of climate-mediated flexibility in maternal investment in the cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus We focus on egg size because in this species egg size influences offspring size, and females reduce egg investment when there are helpers at the nest. We report that females lay larger eggs during dry, hot conditions. However, the effect of temperature is modulated by the presence of helpers: the average egg size of females with helpers is reduced during cooler conditions but increased during hot conditions relative to females without helpers. This appears to reflect plasticity in egg investment rather than among female differences. Analysis of maternal survival suggests that helped females are better able to withstand the costs of breeding in hot conditions than females without helpers. Our study suggests that females can use multiple, independent cues to modulate egg investment flexibly in a variable environment.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.