Density dependence of clutch size and offspring sex ratio in starling colonies

Optimal life-history theory predicts that individuals should adjust both the number and the sex of their offspring to maximize fitness in response to environmental and social factors such as breeding density. While reductions in optimal clutch size are well-studied in birds, the evidence for sex ratio adjustments is still equivocal and, so far, we lack a thorough understanding of how these strategies interact to maximize fitness. Here, we investigate how breeding density simultaneously affects brood sex ratio and clutch size in a sexually dimorphic and polygynous bird. We tested the prediction that mothers breeding at a higher density lay smaller clutches and overproduce daughters, the sex with less variable fitness returns and that disperses further away from their natal territory. We distributed nest boxes at either a high (HD) or a low density (LD) and monitored clutch sizes and sex ratios during five years in a wild breeding colony of spotless starlings. While mothers breeding in HD...