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Cooperative breeding (i.e. when alloparents care for the offspring of other group members) has been studied for nearly a century. Yet, inconsistent definitions of this breeding system still hamper comparative research. Here, we identify two major inconsistencies, discuss their consequences and propose a way forward. First, some researchers restrict the term 'cooperative breeding' to species with non‐breeding alloparents. We show that such restrictive definitions lack distinct quantitative criteria to define non‐breeding alloparents. This ambiguity, we argue, reflects the reproductive‐sharing continuum among cooperatively breeding species. We therefore suggest that cooperative breeding should not be restricted to the few species with extreme reproductive skew and should be defined independent of the reproductive status of alloparents. Second, definitions rarely specify the type, extent and prevalence of alloparental care required to classify species as cooperative breeders. We thus analysed published data to propose qualitative and quantitative criteria for alloparental care. We conclude by proposing the following operational definition: cooperative breeding is a reproductive system where >5% of broods/litters in at least one population receive species‐typical parental care and conspecifics provide proactive alloparental care that fulfils >5% of at least one type of the offspring's needs. This operational definition is designed to increase comparability across species and disciplines while allowing to study the intriguing phenomenon of cooperative breeding as a behaviour with multiple dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sex-specific foraging behaviour might be influenced by digestive constraints. However, evidence for sex differences in digestive performance is limited. Various physiological traits are known to be body size dependent. Therefore, we hypothesized that body size differences between male and female birds may lead to differences in their digestive characteristics. We predicted that if food intake and digestive functions are only governed by body mass, then males that are heavier than females would have higher food intake, food assimilation efficiency and gut transit time, but not after controlling for the effect of body mass. We fed a diet of equicaloric solutions of sucrose and a 1:1 mixture of glucose and fructose (hexose mixture) solutions to Palestine sunbirds (Nectarinia osea). When fed sucrose solutions, males had longer transit times but similar absorption efficiencies as females. Transit times, corrected for differences in body mass and food intake, were still longer in males than in females when fed on sucrose solutions. The sex-specific differences in transit time disappeared when the birds were fed the hexose mixture. Our results suggest that males take longer to digest than females when fed on sucrose-rich nectars as opposed to hexose-rich nectars, and therefore can allow themselves a relatively lower digestive capacity. This may suggest sex-specific co-evolution of sunbirds within mixed plant communities, which have both sucrose- and hexose-rich nectar-producing plants. Furthermore, future studies on digestion in birds may pay attention to sex-specific differences. Key words: absorption efficiency, foraging, Palestine sunbird, Nectarinia osea, sexual dimorphism, transit time.

The removal of males in pairs of orange-tufted sunbirds increased the provisioning effort of lone females. However, this compensatory response is incomplete as evidenced by the reduction in total visit rate in the male-removed group. The females' inability to fully compensate for the lack of partner may be caused by time constraints on the rate of food collection or due to efforts done at a physiological maximum.

An analysis of parental care in the orange-tufted sunbird revealed that males showed more mobbing efforts than their female partners and the nest guarding activity increased both in males and females with increased brood size. For provisioning at higher rates, males failed to guard nests. Visit rates decreased in experimental nests and larger broods as evidenced by the lower chick growth rates.

Extreme reproductive skew occurs when a dominant female/male almost monopolizes reproduction within a group of multiple sexually mature females/males, respectively. It is sometimes considered an additional, restrictive criterion to define cooperative breeding. However, datasets that use this restrictive definition to classify species as cooperative breeders systematically overestimate reproductive skew by including groups in which reproduction cannot be shared by definition (e.g. groups with a single female/male). Here, we review the extent of reproductive sharing in 41 mammal and 37 bird species previously classified as exhibiting alloparental care and extreme reproductive skew, while only considering multi-female or multi-male groups. We demonstrate that in groups where unequal reproduction sharing is possible, extreme reproductive skew occurs in a few species only (11/41 mammal species and 12/37 bird species). These results call for significant changes in datasets that classify species' caring and mating system. To facilitate these changes, we provide an updated dataset on reproductive sharing in 63 cooperatively breeding species. At the conceptual level, our findings suggest that reproductive skew should not be a defining criterion of cooperative breeding and support the definition of cooperative breeding as a care system in which alloparents provide systematic care to other group members' offspring.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) constitute a diverse group of chemical compounds which can alter endocrine function in exposed animals. Whilst most studies have focussed on exposure of wildlife to EDCs via aquatic routes, there is the potential for transfer into the terrestrial food chain through consumption of contaminated prey items developing in sewage sludge and waste water at sewage treatment works. In this study, we determine levels of EDCs in aerial insects whose larval stages develop on percolating filter beds at sewage treatment works. We compare absolute concentrations of known EDCs with those collected from aquatic environments not exposed to sewage effluent outflow. Our findings document for the first time that aerial invertebrates developing on sewage filter beds take up a range of chemicals thought to be incorporated from the sewage effluent, which act as endocrine disruptors. For two synthetic chemicals (17alpha-ethinylestradiol and butylated hydroxy aniline), concentrations were significantly higher in insects captured around percolating filter beds than sites over 2 km from the nearest sewage works. A number of species of insectivorous bats and birds, some of which are declining or threatened, use sewage works as principle foraging sites. We calculate approximate exposure levels for a species of bat known to forage within sewage works and suggest that further research is warranted to assess the ecological implications of consuming contaminated invertebrate prey.