Red-winged Blackbirds: Decision-making and Reproductive Success - Softcover

Beletsky, Les D.; Orians, Gordon H.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226041875 ISBN 13: 9780226041872

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1997

Synopsis

Drawing on detailed data from their sixteen-year study of red-winged blackbirds in the marshes of Washington's Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, Beletsky and Orians analyze the information redwings use to make breeding-season decisions and the consequences these decisions have for lifetime reproductive success. Because male and female redwings make different, and often independent, decisions—males focus on territory acquisition and maintenance, while females must choose when and where to nest and how much energy to invest in reproduction—the authors have taken the novel approach of studying the sexes separately.

Using analyses of observational data combined with field experiments and game-theoretical models, the authors provide new insights into the complex patterns of reproductive decision-making and breeding behavior in redwings. This book will be of interest to all who study social animals, including behavioral ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and ornithologists.

About this title

About the Author

Gordon H. Orians lives in Seattle, where he is professor emeritus of biology at the University of Washington. He is the author or editor of several books, including, most recently, Red-Winged Blackbirds: Decision-making and Reproductive Success and Life: The Science of Biology.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0226041875
• ISBN 13: 9780226041872
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 316