Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Life Sciences Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Zoology

Old Dominion University

Acorn woodpecker

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Population Dynamics And Dispersal Coalitions In The Cooperatively Breeding Acorn Woodpecker, Natasha Hagemeyer Apr 2021

Population Dynamics And Dispersal Coalitions In The Cooperatively Breeding Acorn Woodpecker, Natasha Hagemeyer

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Dispersal is a critical life-stage with consequences not only for the individual, but for population dynamics and thus the fate of the whole species. The creation of dispersal coalitions can lead to complex outcomes and affect how changes in abundance occur on the landscape. I examined population dynamics and dispersal coalitions in a population of cooperatively breeding acorn woodpeckers in central California, USA. Using a 34-year dataset on occupancy and abundance, I determined that increases in abundance were determined by dispersal to new locations. This resulted in increased occupancy, rather than increases in group size and larger coalitions. I then …


The Behavioral Causes Of Reproductive Skew In Cooperatively Polygynandrous Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes Formicivorus), Anna C. Brownson Apr 2015

The Behavioral Causes Of Reproductive Skew In Cooperatively Polygynandrous Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes Formicivorus), Anna C. Brownson

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Reproductive skew, the degree to which reproduction is shared among same-sex individuals in a social group, is a pattern affected by ecological conditions, sociality, cooperation, and the inter- and intrasexual behavior of individuals in complex animal societies. Transactional and compromise skew models assume that high skew is the product of dominance hierarchies among cobreeders, yet this has rarely been tested. Both model types fail to incorporate the decisions of more than two individuals, generally overlooking the effect of female behavior on male reproductive success in multi-male groups, and are ineffective at predicting skew in larger groups characterized by more than …