Effects of mate removal on the behaviour and reproductive success of Reed Warblers <i>Acrocephalus scirpaceus</i>

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<jats:p>The Reed Warbler <jats:italic>Acrocephalus scirpaceus</jats:italic> is a largely monogamous insectivorous passerine in which males and females provide equal care by day to eggs and chicks. Polygyny occurs occasionally, with males leaving one female unaided. When females were temporarily removed from three recently‐completed clutches their males deserted and resumed the high song levels typical of unmated males. Males may desert either because they are physically incapable of incubation or because the energy expenditure needed for a male to return to an equivalent stage in the breeding cycle is much lower than for a female to do so. Widowed females (<jats:italic>n = 7</jats:italic>), however, continued the breeding attempt alone, with similar incubation levels but higher provisioning rates than those of control females. In three out of four mid‐season broods raised by lone females all fertile eggs were reared to healthy fledglings (in the fourth brood the female died), while only one of four late‐season nests produced any fledglings (which were underweight). Late‐season control nests were as successful as earlier ones. Loss of male help led to starvation of chicks, but caused no adverse effects during incubation. This explains the small changes in widows' sitting levels during incubation, but much greater effects after hatching. Females may need male help to rear late broods (but not early broods) as days are shorter and food is scarcer. Males may normally help at nests, even those in the mid‐season, because in stressful spells (even for a few days) such help is vital for successful breeding but in good periods it costs the male little.</jats:p>

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  • Ibis

    Ibis 134 (2), 164-170, 1992-04

    Wiley

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