Juan Carlos Oteyza

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission | ffwcc · Fish and Wildlife Research Institute

Parents faced with a predator must choose between their own safety versus taking care of their offspring. Each choice can have fitness costs. Life-history theory predicts that longer-lived species should be less willing than shorter-lived species to return to care for their offspring after a predator disturbance because they have more opportunities...

In cooperatively breeding animals, genetic relatedness among group members often determines the extent of reproductive sharing, cooperation and competition within a group. Studies of species for which cooperative behaviour is not entirely based on kinship are key for understanding the benefits favouring the evolution and maintenance of cooperative...

Florida grasshopper sparrow (FGSP; Ammodramus savannarum floridanus) populations have been in sharp decline despite intensive management and research efforts. Habitat loss, alteration of hydrology and fire regimes, and possibly disease, have played a role in the decline. As breeding pairs reached critically low numbers in 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wi...

Molecular studies have revealed that social groups composed mainly of nonrelatives may be widespread in group-living vertebrates, but the benefits favoring such sociality are not well understood. In the Old World, birds often form conspecific foraging groups that are maintained year-round and offspring usually disperse to other social groups. We te...

Understanding intrinsic (physiological) and extrinsic (e.g., temperature) causes of variation in embryonic development time (incubation period) is important because they can have different impacts on individual quality. Robert Ricklefs and colleagues have argued that longer incubation periods result primarily from intrinsic physiological programs t...

Parental behavior and effort vary extensively among species. Life-history theory suggests that age-specific mortality could cause this interspecific variation, but past tests have focused on fecundity as the measure of parental effort. Fecundity can cause costs of reproduction that confuse whether mortality is the cause or the consequence of parent...

Nest predation is a key source of selection for birds that has attracted increasing attention from ornithologists. The inclusion of new concepts applicable to nest predation that stem from social information, eavesdropping or physiology has expanded our knowledge considerably. Recent methodological advancements now allow focus on all three players...

Abstract Growth and development rates may result from genetic programming of intrinsic processes that yield correlated rates between life stages. These intrinsic rates are thought to affect adult mortality probability and longevity. However, if proximate extrinsic factors (e.g., temperature, food) influence development rates differently between sta...

We studied the breeding biology of the Straight-billed Woodcreeper (Dendroplex picus) (Dendrocolaptinae) from eight nests in Hato Masaguaral, Venezuela and reviewed current literature for all woodcreeper species. Straight-billed Woodcreepers nested in PVC nest-boxes (n = 6) and in wooden fence posts (n = 2). Mean ± SE clutch size was 2.50 ± 0.19 eg...