Contact | Research | Background | Publications

Contact

E-mail
vittorio.baglione@ebc.uu.se

Address
Dept. of Population Biology
Evolutionary Biology Centre
Uppsala University
Norbyvägen 18 D
SE-752 36 Uppsala
Sweden

Telephone
018-471 6496

Telefax
018-471 6424

 

Research

Cooperative breeding in the Carrion crow Corvus corone corone
Cooperative breeding, where more than two individuals provide care to a single nest, occurs in ca. 3.2% of bird species. Unlike other European populations, Carrion crows in northern Spain regularly exhibit cooperative breeding. Social groups form through delayed natal dispersal and/or immigration of individuals into the territories.

 

Taking advantage form the intraspecific variability of the social behaviour of the crows, I am investigating the ecology of cooperative breeding. My co-workers and I could show the causal relationship between the rearing environment and the expression of helping behaviour in juvenile crows. By comparing different European populations, I am currently trying to identify the specific environmental factors that lead to sociality in this species.

My interests also focus on the dynamics of cooperation at the nest. By studying the individual contribution to nestling care in social groups and the degree of relatedness among group members I intend to identify the benefits of helping behaviour and to test the role of kin selection in the evolution of cooperative breeding in the Carrion crow.

Research group
José Manuel Marcos, Ph.D. student, Department of Physiology and Animal Biology, University of Sevilla, Spain
Daniela Canestrari, Ph.D. student, Dep. of Zoology, Cambridge University, UK

 

Background

 

Publications

Baglione, V., Marcos, J.M., Canestrari, D. & Ekman, J. Direct fitness benefits of group living in a complex cooperative society of carrion crows Corvus corone corone. Anim. Behav. (in press).

Baglione, V., Canestrari, D. Marcos, J.M., Griesser, M. & Ekman, J. 2002. History, environment and social behaviour: experimentally induced cooperative breeding in the carrion crow. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 296, 1247-1251.

Baglione, V., Marcos, J.M. & Canestrari, D. 2002. Cooperatively breeding groups of Carrion Crow Corvus corone corone in northern Spain. Auk, 119, 790-799.

Ekman, J., Baglione, V., Eggers, S. and Griesser, M. 2001. Delayed dispersal: living under the reign of nepotistic parents. Auk 118, 1-10.

Baglione, V. 1999. Los Córvidos en la Provincia de León: Nichos y Mecanismos de Coexistencia; La Chova Piquirroja como Indicadora de Calidad Ambiental. Servicio de Publicaciones Universidad de León. ISBN: 84-7719-735-0

Baglione V., Pieri M., Bogliani G. 1994. Maladaptative adoption in the hooded crow. Avocetta 18: 147-149.

Bogliani G., Pieri M., Baglione V. 1994. Home range size, risk of nest predation and choice of foraging habitat in two hooded crow populations. Ethology Ecology and Evolution 6: 412.

Baglione V., Pieri M., Bogliani G. 1993. Post-fledging adoption in the hooded crow (Corvus corone cornix). Ethology Ecology & Evolution 5: 381.

Pieri M., Baglione V., Mangiarotti A., Bogliani G. 1993. Relationship between breeding density, risk of predation at the nest and parental investment in the hooded crow (Corvus corone cornix). Ethology Ecology & Evolution 5: 408-409.