Reversed sexual size dimorphism and parental care in the Red‐footed Booby Sula sula

Abstract

The ‘division‐of‐labour’ hypothesis predicts that males and females perform different roles in parental care and that natural selection acts differently on each sex so as to produce different body size optima suited to their particular roles. Reversed sexual size dimorphism in avian species (females larger than males) may therefore be an adaptive consequence of different roles of males and females in parental care. We investigated patterns of nest attendance, brooding, foraging and provisioning rate in a tropical seabird, the Red‐footed Booby Sula sula, a species showing a reversed sexual size dimorphism. During incubation, females attended the nest more often than males, and spent more time brooding the small chick than did males during daytime. Males and females did not differ in the average duration of their foraging trips. During incubation, there was a positive relationship between nest attendance and the duration of foraging trips in males, but not in females. During the small‐chick stage, for the same time spent at the nest, males spent significantly more time than females at sea. On average, females fed the chick more often than did males. In males, there was a significant and positive relationship between the probability of feeding the chick and the duration of the foraging trip, whereas in females, this probability was much less dependent on the duration of the foraging trip. Overall, female Red‐footed Boobies achieved slightly, but significantly, more parental commitment than did males. However, these sexual differences in parental participation were small, suggesting a minimal division of labour in the Red‐footed Booby. Our results suggest that the division of labour hypothesis is unlikely to explain fully the adult size dimorphism in Red‐footed Boobies.