Intra-familial conflicts
I am interested in conflicts within avian families: between the parents, between the siblings and between the parents and their offspring. These conflicts are primarily about the optimal level of parental care. I have used incubating birds to investigate conflict between male and female parents (sexual conflict) because this excludes the influence that offspring have on the parental behaviour. I have also looked at the interaction among siblings for parental care (sibling conflict), and the conflict between parent and offspring over hatching asynchrony and timing of independence from the parent.
Past and current group members:
Christina Muck - Sibling rivalry in gulls
- Muck, C. & Nager, R.G. 2006. The effect of laying and hatching order on the timing and asynchrony of hatching. Animal Behaviour 71,885-892.
Adriana Vallarino - Sibling rivalry in kittiwakes
Maria Bogdanova - Age, Maternal Effects and Egg production
- Bogdanova, M.I. and Nager, R.G. 2008. Sex-specific costs of hatching last: an experimental study on herring gulls (Larus argentatus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 62,1533-1542.
Miran Kim - Eggs, incubation and hatching asynchrony in gulls
- Kim, M., Furness, R.W. and Nager, R.G. In press. Hatching asynchrony is constrained by parental nest attendance during laying. Behavioural Ecology & Sociobiology
Davina Hill - Sexual conflict and division of labour during incubation
Anke Rehling - Optimisation of parental effort: state-dependent parental care strategies in birds