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Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

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Titre :	Signals from avian nests (2016)
Auteurs :	Bernd Leisler, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Vogelwarte (54(2) 2016)
Article en page(s) :	109–124
Langues:	Allemand
Résumé :	That nest structure and characteristics are primarily the result of natural selection was, until recent years, thought to be selfevident. In addition, it has been shown for a whole series of bird species that number, size, or quality of nests built by males play a role in attracting females. Thus males improve their chances of being chosen by females (intersexual selection) thus increasing their reproductive success. According to more recent studies, nest architecture and characteristics may represent external signals that transmit a range of information to conspecifics. Therefore they can be subject to social and/or sexual selection. For example, following pairformation, conspicuous nest-building behaviour, enlargement or decoration of the nest can serve as communication between the partners or as information for other individuals. It has been experimentally demonstrated, especially for cavity-nesting species, that individuals signal their attractiveness by exaggerated structures or decoration of the nest and in this way influence the reproductive strategy of their partner. However, internal (constructive) as well as external constraints like nest parasites, brood parasites, and above all nest predation, severely limit such elaborations and the development of ‘signals from the nest’. The ecological and behavioural conditions under which external signals develop are poorly understood. The example of a scenario is given as to how the nest-building of different Wheatear Oenanthe species might have developed to become a signal. Studies of this sort are hampered by the problem that certain nest materials (e.g. feathers) can perform different functions in different species, or several functions in one species. What has hardly been studied is the very interesting question of whether there is a connection between sexually selected ornamentation of a bird (e.g. decorative plumage) and the elaboration of its nest as an ‘extended phenotype’. Examples of this might be the ovenbirds (plain plumage, elaborate nest structure), or the Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica and Penduline Tit Remiz pendulinus (antagonistic relationship between male plumage ornamentation and nest structure). Various open questions are discussed (for instance whether there are fashions and traditions in the decoration of nests) and comparative studies are encouraged in order to look at problems such as which conditions are necessary for nest structure or characteristics to become signals, and whether both sender and receiver actually profit equally from such signalling

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