Tuesday 18 August: Seminar by Dr Rowan Martin: Long-term monogamy in a long-lived parrot

Rowan Martin, CoE postdoctoral fellow at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute, will present a talk on 'Long-term monogamy in a long-lived parrot' in the Niven Library at 13:00 on Tuesday 18 August.

"Mating systems can be viewed as the outcome of life-history trade-offs and conflict between parents over the care of offspring. Evolutionary theory predicts that under strict long-term monogamy the reproductive interests of males and females are aligned and sexual conflict over parental care should be minimised. Using a series of brood size manipulations I explored patterns of parental care and their consequences for offspring in the monogamous Yellow-shouldered Amazon Parrot. I further explore the role of hatching asynchrony and food availability in the process of brood reduction. Parrots around the world are disproportionately threatened and understanding the processes that underpin patterns of reproductive success can provide us with valuable conservation tools."

See Fitz Seminars for the seminar programme.