Parental care is one of the most successful strategies for providing offspring survival. There are differences in type of care between taxa. There are biparental care, maternal care, paternal care and alloparental care. Bees of the genus Ceratina are suitable model taxon for study of parental care evolution. There is a long time known maternal care and eusociality, in this genus. A species of the genus Ceratina, which has biparental care, is introduced in this thesis. Field experiments were performed from 2011 to 2013 in Podyjí National Park, especially in locality Havraníky heath. Four model species, which are occurring in the Czech Republic, were selected: C. chalybea, C. cucurbitina, C. cyanea and C. nigrolabiata. Artificial nesting opportunities were installed to the field site. Relationship between individuals in nests of C. nigrolabiata was examined by newly developed microsatellite loci. All studied species are solitary in nesting behavior. Their nest structure and nesting phenology is described. Guarding of full brood nest to adulthood of offspring is characteristic behavioral trait for Ceratina bees. This guarding is essential for offspring survival. Experimental nests with removed mother often failed by ant predation, parasitation by chalcid wasp and nest usurpation by other individuals of the...

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Thesis (M.S.)--Miami University, Dept. of Zoology, 2007. / Title from first page of PDF document. Includes bibliographical references (p. 20-26).

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La recherche en écologie comportementale est affectée par un biais notoire en faveur des oiseaux des zones tempérées, en dépit de la plus grande diversité des espèces tropicales et des conditions naturelles radicalement éloignées qui rendent les connaissances sur les espèces tempérées peu pertinentes pour les espèces tropicales.Nous proposons de combler le manque d’informations concernant les oiseaux tropicaux via l’étude d’une espèce socialement monogame, se reproduisant et défendant un territoire toute l’année, la Tourterelle à queue carrée, Zenaida aurita. Pour commencer, nous avons cherché à déterminer le caractère sexuellement mono- ou dichromatique de la coloration du plumage et si celui-ci reflétait la qualité individuelle. Nous avons ensuite exploré les patterns d’appariements au sein des couples selon le degré d’hétérozygotie et la taille du corps. Afin d’établir la force des liens du couple, nous avons évalué le taux de divorce, les hypothèses pouvant expliquer les cas répertoriés, et les conséquences du changement de partenaire. Ceci a été suivi par la caractérisation des rôles des sexes au sein des couples selon diverses activités. Des analyses de capture-marquage-recapture ont permis d’estimer le taux de survie ainsi que l’influence du degré d’hétérozygotie et de la taille de l’aile sur la survie. La Tourterelle à queue carrée paraît suivre les spécificités comportementales, écologiques et démographiques caractérisant les espèces tropicales à monogamie pérenne / Research in avian behavioral ecology is affected by a known bias in favour of temperate species despite the greatest diversity of tropical species and the radically remote natural conditions which make knowledge of temperate species hardly relevant to tropical species.We propose to reduce the lack of information about tropical birds through the study of a socially monogamous species, reproducing and defending an all-purpose territory all year round, the Zenaida dove, Zenaida aurita. We used monitoring data from a population of ringed birds in Barbados for six years. First, we focused on plumage coloration both to ascertain their sexually mono- or dichromatic nature and whether plumage colour reflects individual quality. We then explored pairing patterns in relation to genome-wide heterozygosity and body size (tarsus length, wing chord). To determine the strength of pair bonding, we assessed divorce rate, evaluated which hypotheses could explain divorce cases and listed the consequences of mate loss and mate switching. It was followed by the characterization of sex roles within pairs during various activities (singing, nest building, juvenile care, territorial defence). Capture-mark-recapture analysis allowed us to estimate survival rate as well as influence of heterozygosity degree and wing chord on individual survival. Zenaida dove appears to conform to the behavioral, ecological and demographic features characterizing tropical species with perennial monogamy