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Research | Open Access

The Grey-backed Shrike parents adopt brood survival strategy in both the egg and nestling phases

Liqing Fan1,2,†, Lifang Gao3,†, Zhenqin Zhu3, Xiaodan Zhang3, Wen Zhang3, Haiyang Zhang3, Jianchuan Li4, Bo Du3( )
National Forest Ecosystem Observation & Research Station of Nyingchi Tibet, Institute of Plateau Ecology, Tibet Agriculture & Animal Husbandry University, Linzhi, 860000, China
Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology in Tibet Plateau, Tibet Agriculture & Animal Husbandry University, Linzhi, 860000, China
School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
Tibet Plateau Institute of Biology, Lhasa, 850000, China

† Liqing Fan and Lifang Gao: equal contribution to this paper

Show Author Information

Abstract

Background

Great diversity exists in the parenting pattern of altricial birds, which has long been considered as an adaptive response to specific environmental conditions but not to their life-history style.

Methods

We examined the egg-laying and nestling-raising pattern of the Grey-backed Shrike (Lanius tephronotus) that breeds only once a year on the Tibetan Plateau. We compared the dietary composition to that of its sympatric competitor, the Brown-cheeked Laughing Thrush (Trochalopteron henrici) that breeds twice a year.

Results

Female Grey-backed Shrikes produced a fixed clutch size of five, with increasing egg size by their laying sequence. The last offspring in the brood is disadvantageous in the size hierarchy because it hatches later. However, they had the largest fledgling body mass. These findings indicate that Grey-backed Shrikes adopt the brood survival strategy in both the egg and nestling phases. Moreover, males and females exhibit no sexual division in providing parental care as they made an equal contribution to the total amount of food delivered to their brood. This parenting pattern of Grey-backed Shrikes, as well as their dietary items, differ significantly from those of the Brown-cheeked Laughing Thrush.

Conclusions

We suggest that the differentiation in life-history style between sympatric competitors, rather than a behavioral response to specific environmental conditions, plays a decisive role in driving avian parenting strategy diversification.

Keywords

Brood survival strategyFood typesLanius tephronotus Parenting patternProvisioning rate

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Avian Research
Volume 12 Issue 1,
January 2021
Article number: 11
DOI: 10.1186/s40657-021-00244-x
Cite this article:
Fan L, Gao L, Zhu Z, et al. The Grey-backed Shrike parents adopt brood survival strategy in both the egg and nestling phases. Avian Research, 2021, 12(1): 11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40657-021-00244-x

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Received: 07 May 2020
Accepted: 23 February 2021
Published: 09 March 2021
© The Author(s) 2021.

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