The Evolution of Begging: Sibling Competition and Parent-Offspring Conflict
- 1 July 1986
- journal article
- research article
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The American Naturalist
- Vol. 128 (1), 99-114
- https://doi.org/10.1086/284542
Abstract
A model for the evolution of begging is discussed. Two offspring traits are allowed to evolve: the average (or typical) rate of begging and the rate of change of begging intensity with changes in parental investment. The rate of change of parental investment with changes in begging intensity also can evolve. Some of the results are following. Chicks should vary their rate of begging in response to fluctuations in investment, and parents should respond to these changes so that any fluctuations in parental investment are compensated for on subsequent feeding trips. But the typical rate of begging can evolve to a high level as siblings compete for food from their parents. The typical begging intensity should vary with clutch size; the pattern of variation depends on whether the costs of begging are primarily the attraction of predators or are individual energetic costs. Species that raise just one chick at a time should show a low average begging intensity. The results of the model are compared with those of other models of parent-offspring interactions, and with available data on begging in birds.This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Food, Feeding, and Development of Young Tufted and Horned Puffins in AlaskaOrnithological Applications, 1983
- Selective resistance to approach: A precursor to fear responses to an alarm call in great tit nestlingsParus majorDevelopmental Psychobiology, 1982
- Mechanisms and development of parent-young vocal recognition in the piñon jay (Gymnorhinus cyanocephalus)Animal Behaviour, 1982
- Asynchronous hatching and sibling competition in western grebesCanadian Journal of Zoology, 1981
- Deferred independence and prolonged infantile behaviour in young varied tits, Parus varius, of an island populationAnimal Behaviour, 1981
- Parent-offspring recognition in bank swallows (Riparia riparia): II. Development and acoustic basisAnimal Behaviour, 1981
- Models of parent-offspring conflict. IV. Suppression: Evolutionary retaliation by the parentAnimal Behaviour, 1979
- NESTING OF THE CICADABIRD CORACINA TENUIROSTRISIbis, 1979
- Models of parent-offspring conflict. I. MonogamyAnimal Behaviour, 1978
- Role of the Chick's Begging Behavior in the Regulation of Parental Feeding Behavior of Larus glaucescensOrnithological Applications, 1975