The mechanisms and consequences of parental coordination in Procellariiform seabirds

Thesis

Biparental care is a longstanding evolutionary conundrum. Why should parents continue to invest in their offspring cooperatively, when by abandoning their partner they can reap all the benefits with none of the work? Since the 1970s, several models have attempted to explain the evolution and maintenance of biparental care in animals, eventually converging on the solution of conditional cooperation: a parent’s behaviour should depend on the investment decisions of its partner. This responsi...

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Authors: Gillies, N

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: seabirds; Procellariiform seabirds; behavioural ecology; parental care; sexual conflict; coordination; Manx shearwater
• Subjects: Behavioural ecology; Animal behavior; Ecology; Ornithology