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A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris

Hazel Nichols Orcid Logo, Kevin Arbuckle Orcid Logo

Ecology and Evolution, Volume: 12, Issue: 2

Swansea University Authors: Hazel Nichols Orcid Logo, Kevin Arbuckle Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1002/ece3.8318

Abstract

Cooperative breeding, where individuals other than the parents help to raise offspring, occurs in only ~9% of bird species. Although many starlings (Sturnidae) are cooperative breeders, the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) has rarely been observed exhibiting this behavior. Only two other records...

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Published in: Ecology and Evolution
ISSN: 2045-7758 2045-7758
Published: Wiley 2022
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59191
first_indexed 2022-01-17T09:45:54Z
last_indexed 2022-02-15T04:28:12Z
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spelling 2022-02-14T09:48:25.4096844 v2 59191 2022-01-17 A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe 0000-0002-4455-6065 Hazel Nichols Hazel Nichols true false d1775d20b12e430869cc7be5d7d4a27e 0000-0002-9171-5874 Kevin Arbuckle Kevin Arbuckle true false 2022-01-17 BGPS Cooperative breeding, where individuals other than the parents help to raise offspring, occurs in only ~9% of bird species. Although many starlings (Sturnidae) are cooperative breeders, the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) has rarely been observed exhibiting this behavior. Only two other records exist, one of which was limited to a juvenile giving food to chicks that had already been collected by a parent (and hence providing limited help). Herein, we report a case of cooperative breeding by a juvenile European starling, which represents the second with any evidence of the juvenile collecting food independently and the first to document the extent of such help in the form of feeding rates. Over a period of at least 3 days, a juvenile starling assisted two parents to feed their second brood of the year, and it fed the chicks at the same rate as the adults (~3.5 feeds per hour). In considering potential explanations for this behavior, we conducted an ancestral state estimation of cooperative breeding across starlings and were able to eliminate the possibility that this is a rarely expressed behavior inherited from cooperatively breeding ancestors. Instead, we propose that our observations point to a behavioral innovation, which may be in response to environmental change such as climate change (which has previously been associated with cooperative breeding). Researchers working on birds should be alert to such behavior to determine whether this apparently new breeding strategy will increase as a potential adaptation to environmental change. Journal Article Ecology and Evolution 12 2 Wiley 2045-7758 2045-7758 behavioral innovation; cooperative breeding; feeding rate; sturnidae 12 2 2022 2022-02-12 10.1002/ece3.8318 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) 2022-02-14T09:48:25.4096844 2022-01-17T09:43:02.8840492 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Hazel Nichols 0000-0002-4455-6065 1 Kevin Arbuckle 0000-0002-9171-5874 2 59191__22366__720290a205b24b4b9b97798f3bfdf3ca.pdf 59191_VoR.pdf 2022-02-14T09:43:10.0769792 Output 763196 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2022 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
spellingShingle A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
Hazel Nichols
Kevin Arbuckle
title_short A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
title_full A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
title_fullStr A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
title_full_unstemmed A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
title_sort A case of cooperative breeding in the European Starling, Sturnus vulgaris
author_id_str_mv 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe
d1775d20b12e430869cc7be5d7d4a27e
author_id_fullname_str_mv 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe_***_Hazel Nichols
d1775d20b12e430869cc7be5d7d4a27e_***_Kevin Arbuckle
author Hazel Nichols
Kevin Arbuckle
author2 Hazel Nichols
Kevin Arbuckle
format Journal article
container_title Ecology and Evolution
container_volume 12
container_issue 2
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
issn 2045-7758
2045-7758
doi_str_mv 10.1002/ece3.8318
publisher Wiley
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description Cooperative breeding, where individuals other than the parents help to raise offspring, occurs in only ~9% of bird species. Although many starlings (Sturnidae) are cooperative breeders, the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) has rarely been observed exhibiting this behavior. Only two other records exist, one of which was limited to a juvenile giving food to chicks that had already been collected by a parent (and hence providing limited help). Herein, we report a case of cooperative breeding by a juvenile European starling, which represents the second with any evidence of the juvenile collecting food independently and the first to document the extent of such help in the form of feeding rates. Over a period of at least 3 days, a juvenile starling assisted two parents to feed their second brood of the year, and it fed the chicks at the same rate as the adults (~3.5 feeds per hour). In considering potential explanations for this behavior, we conducted an ancestral state estimation of cooperative breeding across starlings and were able to eliminate the possibility that this is a rarely expressed behavior inherited from cooperatively breeding ancestors. Instead, we propose that our observations point to a behavioral innovation, which may be in response to environmental change such as climate change (which has previously been associated with cooperative breeding). Researchers working on birds should be alert to such behavior to determine whether this apparently new breeding strategy will increase as a potential adaptation to environmental change.
published_date 2022-02-12T08:08:44Z
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