Body Condition Indices Predict Reproductive Success but Not Survival in a Sedentary, Tropical Bird

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dc.contributor.authorMilenkaya, Olgaen
dc.contributor.authorCatlin, Daniel H.en
dc.contributor.authorLegge, Sarahen
dc.contributor.authorWalters, Jeffrey R.en
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.contributor.departmentFish and Wildlife Conservationen
dc.date.accessioned2018-09-18T14:41:00Zen
dc.date.available2018-09-18T14:41:00Zen
dc.date.issued2015-08-25en
dc.description.abstractBody condition may predict individual fitness because those in better condition have more resources to allocate towards improving their fitness. However, the hypothesis that condition indices are meaningful proxies for fitness has been questioned. Here, we ask if intraspecific variation in condition indices predicts annual reproductive success and survival. We monitored a population of Neochmia phaeton (crimson finch), a sedentary, tropical passerine, for reproductive success and survival over four breeding seasons, and sampled them for commonly used condition indices: mass adjusted for body size, muscle and fat scores, packed cell volume, hemoglobin concentration, total plasma protein, and heterophil to lymphocyte ratio. Our study population is well suited for this research because individuals forage in common areas and do not hold territories such that variation in condition between individuals is not confounded by differences in habitat quality. Furthermore, we controlled for factors that are known to impact condition indices in our study population (e.g., breeding stage) such that we assessed individual condition relative to others in the same context. Condition indices that reflect energy reserves predicted both the probability of an individual fledging young and the number of young produced that survived to independence, but only during some years. Those that were relatively heavy for their body size produced about three times more independent young compared to light individuals. That energy reserves are a meaningful predictor of reproductive success in a sedentary passerine supports the idea that energy reserves are at least sometimes predictors of fitness. However, hematological indices failed to predict reproductive success and none of the indices predicted survival. Therefore, some but not all condition indices may be informative, but because we found that most indices did not predict any component of fitness, we question the ubiquitous interpretation of condition indices as surrogates for individual quality and fitness.en
dc.description.versionPublished versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136582en
dc.identifier.eissn1932-6203en
dc.identifier.issue8en
dc.identifier.othere0136582en
dc.identifier.pmid26305457en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/85037en
dc.identifier.volume10en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherPLOSen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.titleBody Condition Indices Predict Reproductive Success but Not Survival in a Sedentary, Tropical Birden
dc.title.serialPLOS ONEen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten

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