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Parenting Reaction Norms in
Sparrows |
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House sparrows fit the stereotypical
profile of a monogamous bird—both male and female contribute extensively to
providing for and protecting the offspring. We have been and are continuing
to study biparental care in sparrows, starting in
1997 with Ph.D. student Meg Hatch’s work on age-related patterns of parental
care (Hatch and Westneat 2007,
2008),
Tria Kinnard’s work on
sources of variance in nestling quality (Kinnard
and Westneat 2009), and
presently with Dan Wetzel’s study of individual patterns of care (papers are
on their way!). We have just been awarded a 4-year
grant to explore parenting as a behavioral reaction norm. This approach
defines behavior as a function of individual identity and the environmental
context in which the individual performs the behavior. It is an explicitly
statistical description of variation in behavior. Dan, Amanda Ensminger (also a Ph.D. student in my lab), Meg and I
reanalyzed Meg’s data on provisioning rate by male and female sparrows using
this approach. We found four major results: 1. Provisioning
rate shows both plasticity and personality, with plasticity having an effect
on the measure of personality, 2.
Sparrows show apparent complex personality,
responding to interaction between environmental variables, 3.
The sexes differ in plasticity in
multiple environmental dimensions, but they do not differ in personality, and 4. There
is individual variation in plasticity with respect to nestling age and
partner behavior, and this is correlated with personality. The paper was published in |
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