provided by the male is directly related to the level of parental care effort in brooding by the female. Increased resources (i.e. food) provided by the male during the nesting stage increases female effort in brooding of the offspring. This is similar to the differential allocation hypothesis, which suggests that females increase their reproductive effort overall when offspring are the result of ideal mates. Brooding behavior is key to the success of owl fledglings, so when males provide adequate food, females provide adequate care. Fewer or lighter individual fledglings are produced as polygamy rate increases and the amount of male effort becomes increasingly important in predicting female brooding effort. Information on parental care effort is limited on the northern saw-whet owl, and likely related to male provisioning rates, the extent, however, is unclear. Current research examines the effect of habitat loss on the male provisioning rates. References Bird genera Taxa named by Johann Jakob Kaup