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Food-seeking behavior has complex evolutionary pressures in songbirds: Linking parental foraging to offspring sexual selection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2019

Kate T. Snyder  and
Nicole Creanza
Kate T. Snyder
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240. katherine.t.snyder@vanderbilt.edunicole.creanza@vanderbilt.edukatetsnyder.comcreanzalab.com
Nicole Creanza
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240. katherine.t.snyder@vanderbilt.edunicole.creanza@vanderbilt.edukatetsnyder.comcreanzalab.com
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Abstract

The target article addresses increased food-seeking behaviors in times of instability, particularly in passerines. We note that food instability might have intergenerational effects on birds: Nutritional stress during development affects song-learning abilities, associating parental foraging with offspring sexual selection. We explore the implications of these compounding selection pressures on food-seeking motivation during breeding, as well as the hormonal underpinnings of these behaviors.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 42 , 2019 , e52
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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