La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	The costs of incubation in the British Storm-petrel: an experimental study in a single-egg layer
Auteurs :	E. Minguez, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Journal of Avian Biology (29(2) JUN 1998)
Article en page(s) :	183-189
Langues:	Anglais
Résumé :	The balance between investment in current reproduction and future survival or reproduction may be particularly important to long-lived species. Many of these species are single-egg layers for which incubation costs cannot be realistically measured by manipulation of clutch size. Here I report an experiment in which I manipulated the costs of incubation in the British Storm-petrel Hydrobates pelagicus by prolonging and shortening the incubation period by exchanging eggs between clutches with an average difference in laying dates of 9 days. Hatching success was higher in nests in which the incubation period was shortened than in nests in which it was prolonged. However, neither fledging success nor chick growth differed between treatments. Experimental manipulation of the incubation period affected laying date in the subsequent year. This finding suggests that incubation is costly in Storm-petrels and that the reproductive effort in one breeding attempt may influence reproductive decisions in subsequent breeding attemps in long-lived seabirds.

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