spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Burness, G. P.
Right arrow Articles by Hochachka, P. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Burness, G. P.
Right arrow Articles by Hochachka, P. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 204, Issue 8 1491-1501, Copyright © 2001 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Physiological and biochemical correlates of brood size and energy expenditure in tree swallows

GP Burness, RC Ydenberg and PW Hochachka
Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1S6. gburness@mednet.ucla.edu

Intra-population variation in many fitness-related traits (e.g. clutch size) is often attributed to variation in individual parental quality. One possible component of quality is the level at which each individual can expend energy while provisioning dependent young. We used breeding tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) to test whether adults with large, natural-sized broods and/or nestlings in good nutritional condition had relatively high daily energy expenditures (DEEs). Adults with high DEEs were predicted to have large internal organs and high metabolic capacities. We first measured the growth rate of nestlings in natural broods of five, six and seven over a 4-day period and then measured parental DEE using doubly labelled water. Adults were then dissected for analyses of body composition and to determine maximum enzyme activities in the pectoral muscle. Although the total mass gain of large broods was greater than that of small broods, parental DEE was independent of brood size. We hypothesize that adults matched their clutch size (and consequently, brood size) to their individual foraging efficiencies. When statistically controlling for the effects of brood size, in one of two years there was a positive correlation between DEE and brood mass. This suggests that among individuals rearing the same-sized broods there were reproductive benefits of a relatively high DEE. There was no correlation between either brood size or DEE and the mass of any internal organ or the metabolic capacity of the pectoral muscle.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
C. D. Moyes
Controlling muscle mitochondrial content
J. Exp. Biol., December 15, 2003; 206(24): 4385 - 4391.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Integr. Comp. Biol.Home page
T. Piersma
Energetic Bottlenecks and Other Design Constraints in Avian Annual Cycles
Integr. Comp. Biol., February 1, 2002; 42(1): 51 - 67.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2001