Study On The Relationship Between Parent Quality And Reproductive Investment Of Varied Tits Sittiparus Varius Based On Song

The reproductive investment of birds has always been a hot issue in the study of avian behavior ecology.Although many research articles have been published so far,their results are not consistent in many aspects.Especially in the study of the relationship between parent quality and reproductive investment,there are varied or even completely opposite results which may due to different bird species and parent quality evaluation indicators.Therefore,the issue of the relationship between parent quality and reproductive investment needs to be further discussed.Bird sound is an important biological feature of birds,especially for songbirds.It contains wealthy biological information.It is not yet clear whether bird sound can predict the physical condition of birds or whether it is related to individual fitness indicators(such as individual quality,reproduction input and reproduction effectiveness).Therefore,this study took a passerine songbird,varied tit Sittiparus varius,as the research object,recorded male song,male and female call and discussed the following issues:(1)whether the song of the varied tit could represent the quality of the individual,(2)which parental rearing strategy varied tit conformed to when using sound as the measurement indicator,and(3)whether the sound of the varied tit could predict its reproduction effectiveness.This study was carried out in Xianrendong National Nature Reserve in Liaoning Province during the breeding season(March-July)from 2019 to 2020.The results are as follows:1.There is no significant relationship between the sound(male song,male and female call)and body size(weight,tarsus length and the ratio of them).The maximum frequency of male song is significantly related to the start reproductive time(first egg laying date,r = 0.384,P = 0.04).2.There is no significant correlation between male song and reproductive investment parameters(feeding amount,clutch).The peak frequency of male call is positively related to self-feeding amount(B = 0.821,P = 0.024)and the peak frequency of female call is positively related to the feeding volume of its spouse(B =0.89,P = 0.043)and the clutch size(B = 0.94,P=0.017).3.The minimum frequency of male song is significantly related to the hatching rate(B =-0.68,P = 0.017)and the reproductive success rate(B =-0.806,P = 0.041),and the interval duration is negatively related to the hatching rate(B =-0.94,P =0.01).There is no significant relationship between male/female call parameters and its reproductive performance.In summary,the sound and body size of the varied tit reflect different aspects of individual quality,and there is no significantly relationship between them.Bird sound can reflect individual quality.Using the sound structure as a measurement indicator,I conclude that the male varied tit adopts good parent and difference allocation strategies and the female adopts the good parent strategy.The song structure of the male varied tit can predict its reproductive success.The interval duration and the minimum frequency is negatively related with the male‘s reproductive success.The call structure of male and female birds could not predict their reproductive success.