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

Biology Commons

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

Articles 1 - 5 of 5

Full-Text Articles in Biology

Territory Inheritance And The Evolution Of Cooperative Breeding In The Acorn Woodpecker, Walter D. Koenig, Joseph Haydock, Hannah L. Dugdale, Eric L. Walters Jan 2023

Territory Inheritance And The Evolution Of Cooperative Breeding In The Acorn Woodpecker, Walter D. Koenig, Joseph Haydock, Hannah L. Dugdale, Eric L. Walters

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

There are two main hypotheses for why offspring in cooperatively breeding taxa delay dispersal and remain on their natal territory rather than disperse. First, ecological constraints may force offspring to remain on their natal territory until a reproductive opportunity presents itself in an otherwise saturated habitat. Alternatively, delaying dispersal and helping kin may increase an offspring's inclusive fitness. One means by which offspring might enhance their direct fitness by delaying dispersal is by inheriting breeding status on their natal territory. Such territory inheritance regularly occurs in acorn woodpeckers, Melanerpes formicivorus, a species whose social groups consist of a cooperatively …


Wandering Woodpeckers: Foray Behavior In A Social Bird, Sahas Barve, Natasha D. G. Hagemeyer, Russell E. Winter, Samuel D. Chamberlain, Walter D. Koenig, David W. Winkler, Eric L. Walters Oct 2019

Wandering Woodpeckers: Foray Behavior In A Social Bird, Sahas Barve, Natasha D. G. Hagemeyer, Russell E. Winter, Samuel D. Chamberlain, Walter D. Koenig, David W. Winkler, Eric L. Walters

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

In many cooperatively breeding taxa, nonbreeding subordinates, or helpers, use extra-territorial forays to discover dispersal opportunities. Such forays are considered energetically costly and foraying birds face aggression from conspecific members of the territories they visit. In contrast, breeders in cooperatively breeding taxa are expected to foray seldomly. We used novel tracking technologies to follow 62 acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), a cooperatively breeding bird, to study extra-territorial foray behavior. Both helpers and breeders engaged in extra-territorial forays routinely and often several times per day. Helpers forayed earlier in the day and invested more time when foraying to high-quality territories. …


Combining Demographic And Genetic Factors To Assess Population Vulnerability In Stream Species, Erin Landguth, C. C. Muhlfeld, R. S. Waples, L. Jones, Winsor H. Lowe, Diane C. Whited, J. Lucotch, H. Neville, Gordon Luikart Sep 2014

Combining Demographic And Genetic Factors To Assess Population Vulnerability In Stream Species, Erin Landguth, C. C. Muhlfeld, R. S. Waples, L. Jones, Winsor H. Lowe, Diane C. Whited, J. Lucotch, H. Neville, Gordon Luikart

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Accelerating climate change and other cumulative stressors create an urgent need to understand the influence of environmental variation and landscape features on the connectivity and vulnerability of freshwater species. Here, we introduce a novel modeling framework for aquatic systems that integrates spatially explicit, individual-based, demographic and genetic (demogenetic) assessments with environmental variables. To show its potential utility, we simulated a hypothetical network of 19 migratory riverine populations (e.g., salmonids) using a riverscape connectivity and demogenetic model (CDFISH). We assessed how stream resistance to movement (a function of water temperature, fluvial distance, and physical barriers) might influence demogenetic connectivity, and hence, …


Oviposition Behavior Partitions Aquatic Landscapes Along Predation And Nutrient Gradients, C. A. Binckley, W. J. Resetarits Jr. Jan 2008

Oviposition Behavior Partitions Aquatic Landscapes Along Predation And Nutrient Gradients, C. A. Binckley, W. J. Resetarits Jr.

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

That individuals attempt to minimize the ratio of mortality risk/growth rate (μ/g) when foraging within individual habitat patches is well established. Do species partition among spatially discrete communities embedded in complex landscapes in a similar manner? We investigated how 3 ovipositing species (2 Hyla treefrogs and a hydrophilid beetle, Tropisternus lateralis) responded to simultaneous gradients of nutrients and predation risk. Species partitioned our experimental metacommunity primarily by reducing oviposition with fish. Tropisternus positively responded to increased nutrients, but the effect decreased with increasing risk, as predicted by μ/g theory. Use of fish habitats by Tropisternus was unrelated to breeding …


Attributes Of Dispersing Meadow Voles In Open-Grid Populations, Raymond D. Dueser, Marcia L. Wilson, Robert K. Rose Jan 1981

Attributes Of Dispersing Meadow Voles In Open-Grid Populations, Raymond D. Dueser, Marcia L. Wilson, Robert K. Rose

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Dispersal was investigated in two open-grid populations of meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicus (Ord, 1815) an central Virginia (U.S.A.) from November 1974 to April 1978. "Dispersal" was defined as immigration onto open, occupied population grids. Dispersers were distinguished from residents by weight at first capture. Individuals first captured at weights <30 g were classified as residents; those first captured at >30 g were classified as dispersers. Three independent lines of evidence support the validity of the 30-g criterion for recognizing dispersers in these vole populations. With frequent trapping and high trappability, particularly of young animals, this open-grid method of study offers two advantages in the study of dispersal. First, dispersers identified …