![]() Monitoring survivorship of female birds is often more difficult than for males since male Darwin’s finches produce a loud advertisement song but females to not. For this reason, females themselves may incur higher survival costs as they attempt to save their offspring. ![]() “The new research findings are significant because they show that ‘just being there’ can be a form of front-line defence against threats to offspring survival.”īritish naturalist Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection was developed while observing plants and animals in various environments, including the Galápagos Islands, where in 1835 he noted the rich diversity of endemic plants, birds and reptiles.įemale Darwin’s finches provide much longer in-nest care to young offspring than males, and presence inside the nest is needed to fend off parasites. “What we show in this publication is that longer female in-nest attendance of chicks predicts the number of parasites in the nest,” says Professor Kleindorfer. The fly lays eggs that hatch into larvae that feed on the developing chicks, killing most chicks and causing beak deformation in the survivors. However, since being first observed in Darwin’s finch nests in 1997, the avian vampire fly has been parasitising nestlings and changing the beak and behaviour of its Darwin’s finch hosts. The 17 Darwin’s finch species on the Galápagos Islands are a textbook example of a rapid adaptive radiation: each species has a unique beak shape suited to extract resources from a different ecological niche. The unintentionally introduced avian vampire fly, an invasive species on the Galápagos Islands, enters Darwin’s finch nests when attending parents are absent. The female must forgo foraging herself, and her persistence is strongly influenced by good food provisioning of her offspring by the male.” If he feeds the offspring a lot, the mother can remain inside the nest for longer,” says Flinders University Professor Sonia Kleindorfer, who is also affiliated with the University of Vienna. “The pair male is also essential for success of the chicks. Although older offspring still have to contend with the larvae, they are better able to preen themselves, and may dislodge and occasionally eat some of them. The maternal buffer is a life-saver, according to the research, especially during the first days after hatching, when chicks are blind, helpless and cannot preen. Spending time with offspring is beneficial to development, but it’s proving lifesaving to Galápagos Islands Darwin’s finches studied by Flinders University experts.Ī new study, published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, has found evidence Darwin’s finch females that spend longer inside the nest can ward off deadly larvae of the introduced avian vampire fly, which otherwise enter and consume the growing chicks. view moreĬredit: Courtesy A Katsis, Flinders University ![]() Image: Darwin's Finch chick in nest on the Galapagos Islands.
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