Labour division in a cooperative breeding bird: the Greyish Baywing(Agelaioidesbadius)

RIOVITTI, BRUNO; ROJAS RIPARI JUAN MANUEL; DE MÁRSICO MARÍA CECILIA; REBOREDA JUAN CARLOS

Milwaukee

Congreso; ABS 2018 Meeting; 2018

Animal Behavior Society

Cooperative breeding is a reproductive system in which one or more adults (helpers) assist others in caring dependent young. In birds, helpers typically contribute to offspring feeding and nest defence. . We studied individual contributions to nest guarding and predator mobbing in a cooperatively breeding neotropical passerine, the greyish baywing (Agelaioides badius). Between 2015 and 2017 we conducted a model presentation experiment at baywing nests on days 9-11 post-hatching (n = 23). Models of sympatric predator and control species were presented sequentially for 20 min to quantify baywings? mobbing response. The latency to respond was shorter for predator than control models, and mobbing intensity (i.e. number of attacks) was higher toward predator models. Mobbing intensity was higher for groups with helpers compared to non-assisted pairs and breeding females mobbed predator models more than males. The per capita attack rate against predator models did not differ between breeding pairs with and without helpers. The results suggest that helping enhances collective nest defence but individual contribution to predator mobbing was unequally distributed within cooperative groups.