Antipredator vigilance in cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens ( Malurus cyaneus )

dc.contributor.authorYasukawa, Ken
dc.contributor.authorCockburn, Andrew
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-10T22:39:45Z
dc.date.issued2009
dc.date.updated2016-02-24T12:04:54Z
dc.description.abstractWe studied 19 color-banded groups of the cooperatively breeding Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) to determine (1) the contributions of breeding and helper males to antipredator vigilance, (2) whether such vigilance reduces predation risk, and (3) the mechanisms by which it might do so. Time spent as a sentinel (perching and scanning from conspicuous locations within sight of the nest) increased with group size, but successful and depredated nests did not differ significantly in sentinel time, and sentinels did not appear to coordinate their vigilance. Both breeder and helper males acted as sentinels, and both were more vigilant when nests contained nestlings than when they contained eggs. Breeders with helpers spent more time as sentinels than those without helpers. Presence of a sentinel reduced the time feeding adults spent pausing to scan when approaching and leaving the nest. Thus, vigilance could enable a male to detect a predator and decoy it away from the nest site or prevent it from locating the nest by deferring feeding visits of other provisioners, but we could not demonstrate that it reduced nest predation by the major nest predator, the Pied Currawong (Strepera graculina).
dc.identifier.issn0004-8038
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/57320
dc.publisherAmerican Ornithologists Union
dc.sourceAuk
dc.subjectKeywords: antipredator defense; cooperative breeding; group size; passerine; predation risk; predator-prey interaction; vigilance; Malurus cyaneus; Strepera graculina; Troglodytinae Antipredator behavior; Cooperative breeding; Malurus cyaneus; Parental behavior; Superb Fairy-wren
dc.titleAntipredator vigilance in cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens ( Malurus cyaneus )
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.issue1
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage154
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage147
local.contributor.affiliationYasukawa, Ken, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU
local.contributor.affiliationCockburn, Andrew, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailu8302869@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidYasukawa, Ken, t1029
local.contributor.authoruidCockburn, Andrew, u8302869
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor060803 - Animal Developmental and Reproductive Biology
local.identifier.ariespublicationu9511635xPUB395
local.identifier.citationvolume126
local.identifier.doi10.1525/auk.2009.08074
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-67650493911
local.identifier.thomsonID000263488700015
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByu9511635
local.type.statusPublished Version

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