A SHORT INTRO PHRASE
A short introduction (1 – 2 sentences) that reflects the overarching idea of the research project.
Continuation paragraph from the above introductory paragraph. 2-5 sentences.
ABOUT MICE
Acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) are a common sight in the oak woodlands of western North America. They live in extended family groups and engage in many communal activities, including territory defense, feeding of the group’s chicks at the cavity nest, and specialized acorn storage structures termed “granaries.” Acorns are an energetically rich food resource, but are available only in the fall, when the woodpeckers collect and store thousands of them. Even though the majority of their diet consists of insects, these stored acorns provide them sustenance during the winter and during reproduction the following spring. If the acorn crop is particularly good, acorn woodpeckers may even breed in the fall, trusting in their stored food to keep their young alive through the winter.
BREEDING HABITS
Acorn woodpeckers exhibit one of the world’s few polygynandrous mating systems, where multiple males and females breed together cooperatively. The group is composed of up to 7 cobreeding males, 4 joint-nesting females, and nonbreeding helpers of both sexes. The breeding woodpeckers breed promiscuously within the group, but never mate outside it. Cobreeding males are closely related – usually brothers or a father and his sons – and compete for matings with the joint-nesting females. These females are also closely related to each other, and lay their eggs in the same cavity. When one female starts laying, the other joint-nesting females will remove and eat her eggs, until they, too are ready to lay, ensuring that the chicks in the nest will be equally divided among the mothers.
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Offspring produced from this communal nest may remain in the group for many years as nonbreeding helpers. During this time they will help feed their younger siblings at the nests, but they themselves will never breed. Instead, they contribute to the group via territory defense and acorn management, while spending most of their time off the territory, hunting for reproductive vacancies at other groups. Helpers can only inherit their natal territory if all cobreeders of the opposite sex die and are replaced by unrelated woodpeckers, to avoid incestuous relationships.
When a breeding vacancy occurs at a group, large same-sex coalitions of relatives will compete against other coalitions in spectacular events called power struggles. In these all-out fights, the largest coalition wins, and the losers return home and resume helping their parents. Members of the winning coalition remain at the group as cobreeders, and may even found a new dynasty at the territory.
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THE RESEARCH
At Hastings, researchers monitor a color-banded population of acorn woodpeckers, keeping track of the reproduction and movement of individuals across the landscape. Using genetics, all woodpeckers hatched at Hastings have their parents identified, and the combination of behavioral observations, group censuses, and a genetic family tree allows for the examination of mating success, trait inheritance, familial recognition, and more. Current research at Hastings uses state-of-the-art nanotag and automated telemetry systems paired with behavioral observation to examine hypotheses about how and why helpers help.
At Hastings, researchers monitor a color-banded population of acorn woodpeckers, keeping track of the reproduction and movement of individuals across the landscape. Using genetics, all woodpeckers hatched at Hastings have their parents identified, and the combination of behavioral observations, group censuses, and a genetic family tree allows for the examination of mating success, trait inheritance, familial recognition, and more. Current research at Hastings uses state-of-the-art nanotag and automated telemetry systems paired with behavioral observation to examine hypotheses about how and why helpers help.
REFERENCES
Bolen, G.M., 1999. Extra-pair behavior in Yellow-billed Magpies (Pica nuttalli). Ph.D. Thesis. University of California, Berkeley
Carmen, W.J., 1988. Behavioral ecology of the California scrub jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens Californica): a non-cooperative breeder with close cooperative relatives. Ph.D. Thesis. University of California Berkeley
Koenig, W.D. & Heck, M.K., 1988. Ability of two species of oak woodland birds to subsist on acorns. Condor 90: 705-708.
Koenig, W.D., Krakauer, A.H., Monahan, W.B., Haydock, J., Knops, J.M. & Carmen, W.J., 2009. Mast‐producing trees and the geographical ecology of western scrub‐jays. Ecography 32:561-570.
Monahan, W. B., & Koenig, W. D. 2006. Estimating the potential effects of sudden oak death on oak-dependent birds. Biological Conservation 127: 146-157
Pesendorfer M.B., Koenig, W.D., 2016. The effect of within-year variation in acorn crop size on seed predation and dispersal by avian hoarders. Oecologia 181: 97-106
Reynolds, M.D., 1990. The Ecology of Spacing Behavior in the Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica Nuttalli). Ph.D. Thesis. University of California, Berkeley
Verbeek, N.A.M., 1970. The exploitation system of the Yellow-billed Magpie. Ph.D. Thesis. University of California Berkeley
RECENTLY PUBLISHED
Pesendorfer MB, Sillett TS, Koenig WD, Morrison SA. Scatter-hoarding corvids as seed dispersers for oaks and pines: a review of a widely distributed mutualism and its utility to habitat restoration. The Condor: Ornithological Applications 118: 215-237. [pdf]
Pesendorfer MB, Koenig, WD (in press) The effect of within-year variation in acorn crop size on seed predation and dispersal by avian hoarders. Oecologia
Pesendorfer MB, Koenig WD, Knops JMH, Funk KA, Pearse IS (in press) Individual resource-limitation combined with population-wide pollen availability drives masting in the valley oak (Quercus lobata). Journal of Ecology