Patterns of Growth in Birds

Summary Parameters used to characterize the course of growth are described, and calculated growth parameters are presented for 105 species of birds of many taxonomic groups from a wide range of geographical localities. Growth parameters are found to exhibit as much as 20% variation within a species with respect to geographic locality and time of the nesting season. There is also considerable local variation, irrespective of season and locality, which is related to nutrition and perhaps to an inherited variability. The application of curve‐fitting as a method of analysing intraspecific variation is discussed briefly, and the importance of comparative growth studies is emphasized. Growth patterns are correlated with other parameters of the life‐history to evaluate the extent of diversity in the course of growth. Low rates of growth and prolonged growth periods occur primarily in species large for their families and in oceanic species. In most others, high rates of growth are maintained for longer periods of time. The shape of the growth curve is not related to the mode of development (i.e. whether precocial or altricial). Overall relative, or weight‐specific growth rates, as measured by the constants of fitted growth equations, are most highly correlated with the adult body size of the species, changing as the ‐0–278 power of adult body weight. Smaller variations in the rate of growth appear to be correlated with differences in nesting success; open‐nesting passerines grow faster than hole‐nesting species of a similar size. Growth rate is further correlated with brood size. Oceanic species with single egg clutches and tropical land‐birds with small clutches have low growth rates. The asymptote of the growth curve of the young (in relation to the adult weight) is related to the foraging behaviour of the adults. Aerial feeders generally have high asymptotes while those of ground feeding species are usually below adult weight. These differences are related to the need in the former for well‐developed flight at the time of fledging. The diversity of growth patterns is related to evolutionary trends which are the result of (1) selective forces acting at stages of the life‐history cycle other than development, (2) factors which affect the survival of offspring during the growth period, and (3) adjustments made to balance the energy budget of the family group. The last trend is discussed in detail in relation to the correlations found in the analysis. Two hypotheses are presented. Firstly, in species which cannot gather enough food to support even one young at a normal growth rate, the pace of development is reduced to decrease the energetic requirements of the young. Secondly, in species with small clutches, where adjustments to feeding capacities are not readily made by changing brood size, growth rate may be adjusted to accomplish this. The lack of critical energetic data to test these hypotheses is emphasized as a major deficiency in our understanding of the breeding biology of birds.