Sibling conflict and dishonest signaling in birds.
Offspring survival can often depend on successful communication with parents about their state of need. Theory suggests that offspring will be less likely to honestly signal their need when they experience greater competition from either a greater number of nestmates or less-related nestmates. We found support for this hypothesis with a comparative analysis, examining data from across 60 species of birds. We found that offspring are less honest about their level of need when (i) they face competition from current siblings; (ii) their parents are likely to breed again, and so they are in competition with future siblings; and (iii) parental divorce or death means that they are likely to be less related to future siblings. More generally, these patterns highlight the sensitivity of communication systems to conflict between signaler and receiver while also suggesting that when there is little conflict, natural selection favors the honest.
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom.
Shana M
0000-0002-9674-5335
SM
Caro
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom.
Stuart A
SA
West
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, United Kingdom ashleigh.griffin@zoo.ox.ac.uk.
Ashleigh S
0000-0001-7674-9825
AS
Griffin
D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D012641:Selection, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*; D035781:Siblings
begging; meta-analysis; parent–offspring communication; parent–offspring conflict; signaling