Benefits of extra food to reproduction depend on maternal condition

The amount of food resources available to upper-level consumers can show marked variations in time and space, potentially resulting in food limitation. The availability of food resources during reproduction is a key factor modulating variation in reproductive success and life-history trade-offs, including patterns of resource allocation to reproduction vs. self-maintenance, ultimately impacting on population dynamics. Food provisioning experiments constitute a popular approach to assess the importance of food limitation for vertebrate reproduction. In this study of a mesopredatory avian species, the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), we provided extra food to breeding individuals from egg laying to early nestling rearing. Extra food did not significantly affect adult body condition or oxidative status. However, it increased the allocation of resources to flight feathers moult and induced females to lay heavier eggs. Concomitantly, it alleviated the costs of laying heavier eggs for females...