Article Abstract:
Male bluethroat, a monogamous passerine, uses mate guarding as its main paternity guard, and this behavior is related to paternity. In the observed sample, 20% of all offspring are sired by extra-pair males. The extra-pair offsprings are clustered in certain groups where their number is almost 54%. There is a no intraspecific brood parasitism. Males with full paternity guard their mates intensely at the beginning of egg-laying, and follow the female. Male singing decreases during breeding season. There are more intrusions in territories with extra-pair offspring.
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Article Abstract:
Bart Kempenaers and Ben C. Sheldon, in their study on the link between paternity and paternal care in birds, encountered barriers in conducting their correlational study. These included influence of the efforts of mates on parental contributions of males, negative correlation between paternity and male care and the possibility that males with low paternity may obtain low paternity in future broods. However, a study on the purple martin mating system overcome these difficulties to conclude that there is no relationship between paternity and paternal care.
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Article Abstract:
Bart Kempenaers and Ben C. Sheldon, in an article published in a 1997 edition of 'Animal Behaviour,' erred in their assumption on the inappropriateness of non-experimental studies on the relationship between measures of paternal care and paternity in birds. They argued that descriptive studies provide inaccurate information confounded by other factors where causality cannot be inferred. However, descriptive studies may contain valuable information about the topic which may not be adequately addressed by the experimental approach.
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