Selective pressures imposed by pathogenic microorganisms to embryos have selected in
hosts for a battery of antimicrobial lines of defenses that includes physical and chemical …

In managed landscapes, habitat structure is frequently manipulated through the creation of
features such as tracks, hedges, and waterways. If predator and prey activity are …

Summary 1 The incubation‐limitation hypothesis states that clutch size in shorebirds is
constrained by the ability to incubate more than four eggs successfully. In order to test …

Many birds lay eggs speckled with black or reddish-brown spots of protoporphyrin pigment,
but the function of these spots is debated. Two recent hypotheses have received …

Background Effective communication between sexual partners is essential for successful
reproduction. Avian parents with biparental incubation need to know how to negotiate, when …

In birds, incubation by both parents is a common form of care for eggs. Although the
involvement of the two parents may vary dramatically between and within pairs, as well as …

Biparental care is common in birds, with the allocation of effort being highly variable
between the sexes. In most songbird species, the female typically provides the most care …

This study focuses on possible sources of egg size variation in the northern lapwing
Vanellus vanellus, a polygynous shorebird with more variable male than female …

The polygyny threshold model predicts that monogamous and secondary females on
average settle at the same time and have similar reproductive success. This is not generally …

Resource polygyny incurs costs of having to share breeding resources for female breeders.
When breeding with a relative, however, such costs may be lessened by indirect fitness …