Document Type

Article

Publication Title

The American Naturalist

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Publication Date

1-21-2015

Volume

185

Disciplines

Life Sciences | Poultry or Avian Science

Abstract

Growth and development rates may result from genetic programming of intrinsic processes that yield correlated rates between life stages. These intrinsic rates are thought to affect adult mortality probability and longevity. However, if proximate extrinsic factors (e.g., temperature, food) influence development rates differently between stages and yield low covariance between stages, then development rates may not explain adult morality probability. We examined these issues based on study of 90 songbird species on four continents to capture the diverse life-history strategies observed across geographic space. The length of the embryonic period explained little variation (ca. 13%) in nestling periods and growth rates among species. This low covariance suggests that the relative importance of intrinsic and extrinsic influences on growth and development rates differs between stages. Consequently, nestling period durations and nestling growth rates were not related to annual adult mortality probability among diverse songbird species within or among sites. The absence of a clear effect of fester growth on adult mortality when examined in an evolutionary framework across species may indicate that species that evolve faster growth also evolve physiological mechanisms for ameliorating costs on adult morality. Instead, adult mortality rates of species in the wild may be determined more strongly by extrinsic environmental causes.

Keywords

life history, adult mortality, nest predation, nestling growth rates, incubation periods

DOI

10.1086/679612

Comments

Link to online enhancement appendix: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ks62j.

Rights

© 2015 by the University of Chicago

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