Penduline-Tit (Remiz pendulinus) Science Article 2
abstract
The size and quality of nest influence mate choice and parental behaviour in several birds. Previousworks in Penduline Tits showed that females prefer to mate with males that build largenests, and females desert small nests whereas they incubate eggs in large nests. We testedwhether female preference may be related to the benefits of having large nests by investigatingthe influence of nest size (height, volume and thickness) on cooling rates of eggs and terminalegg temperatures in the laboratory using two ambient temperatures (10 deg C and 25 deg C), andclutch sizes (3 and 9 dummy eggs). Cooling rate of eggs was slower at 25 deg C than at 10 deg C, and9 eggs cooled slower than 3 eggs. In addition, cooling rates decreased with nest thickness, althoughthey were unrelated to nest height and volume. The influence of nest thickness on eggcooling rates was stronger at 10 deg C than at 25 deg C indicating that nest thickness is particularlyimportant to insulate the eggs in relatively cold environment. Our results are thus consistentwith a previous field study that showed a stronger female preference for large nests early in thebreeding season, when ambient temperatures are low, than late in the season.
Szentirmai, I, Szekely, T. and A. Liker, Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 51 (1), pp. 59-66, 2005