The Relationship Between Carotenoid-Based Coloration and Pairing, Within- and Extra-Pair Mating Success in the American Redstart

The Condor ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 111 (4) ◽  
pp. 684-693 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter J. Kappes ◽  
Bridget J. M. Stutchbury ◽  
Bonnie E. Woolfenden
Keyword(s):  
Mating Success ◽  
American Redstart ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Extra Pair Mating ◽  
The Relationship

Does experimentally altered plumage brightness influence extra-pair mating success in female Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor)?

2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-61
Author(s):  
Lisha L. Berzins ◽  
Russell D. Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Mating Success ◽  
Tachycineta Bicolor ◽  
Competitive Interactions ◽  
Tree Swallows ◽  
Extra Pair Paternity ◽  
Female Tree ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
And Function ◽  
Ornamental Traits ◽  
Extra Pair Mating

Recent empirical evidence suggests that ornamental traits displayed by female birds may reflect aspects of their quality, and function during competitive interactions and (or) social mate attraction; however, less is known about how such traits influence extra-pair paternity. In Tree Swallows (Tachycineta bicolor (Vieillot, 1808)), plumage brightness of females signals their quality and may be related to extra-pair paternity if it enables them to invade the territories of other females to seek extra-pair copulations and (or) if potential extra-pair mates perceive their plumage brightness as attractive. Therefore, to examine whether the plumage brightness displayed by females influence rates of extra-pair paternity and the number of sires per brood, we experimentally enhanced and reduced the plumage brightness of females relative to controls. Our results showed that plumage brightness treatment of the female did not influence the number of extra-pair offspring in nests or the likelihood of a brood containing extra-pair offspring. Additionally, the number of extra-pair males siring offspring within the broods of females did not differ by plumage brightness treatment. Although extra-pair paternity has been shown to be beneficial for female Tree Swallows, our results suggest that plumage brightness of females does not influence their ability to engage in extra-pair mating.

scholarly journals Extra-pair young in house wren broods are more likely to be male than female

2009 ◽  
Vol 276 (1665) ◽  
pp. 2285-2289 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Scott Johnson ◽  
Charles F. Thompson ◽  
Scott K. Sakaluk ◽  
Markus Neuhäuser ◽  
Bonnie G.P. Johnson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sex Allocation ◽  
House Wren ◽  
Cavity Nesting ◽  
Socially Monogamous ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Sex Allocation Theory ◽  
Breeding Seasons ◽  
Extra Pair Mating ◽  
The Relationship

Sex-allocation theory predicts that females should preferentially produce offspring of the sex with greater fitness potential. In socially monogamous animal species, extra-pair mating often increases the variance in fitness of sons relative to daughters. Thus, in situations where offspring sired by a female's extra-pair mate(s) will typically have greater fitness potential than offspring sired by the within-pair mate, sex-allocation theory predicts that females will bias the sex of offspring sired by extra-pair mates towards male. We examined the relationship between offspring sex and paternity over six breeding seasons in an Illinois population of the house wren ( Troglodytes aedon ), a cavity-nesting songbird. Out of the 2345 nestlings that had both sex and paternity assigned, 350 (15%) were sired by extra-pair males. The sex ratio of extra-pair offspring, 0.534, was significantly greater than the sex ratio of within-pair offspring, 0.492, representing an increase of 8.5 per cent in the proportion of sons produced. To our knowledge, this is the first confirmed report of female birds increasing their production of sons in association with extra-pair fertilization. Our results are consistent with the oft-mentioned hypothesis that females engage in extra-pair mating to increase offspring quality.

Extra-Pair Mating System of a Synchronously Breeding Tropical Songbird

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget J. M. Stutchbury ◽  
Eugene S. Morton ◽  
Walter H. Piper
Keyword(s):  
Mating System ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Extra Pair Mating

scholarly journals Experimental evidence that extra-pair mating drives asymmetrical introgression of a sexual trait

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1771) ◽  
pp. 20132175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T. Baldassarre ◽  
Michael S. Webster
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Similar Amount ◽  
Plumage Colour ◽  
Sensory Bias ◽  
Mating Advantage ◽  
Malurus Melanocephalus ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Correlational Data ◽  
Extra Pair Mating ◽  
Manipulation Experiment

Theory suggests that traits under positive selection may introgress asymmetrically across a hybrid zone, potentially driven by sexual selection. Two subspecies of the red-backed fairy-wren ( Malurus melanocephalus ) differ primarily in a sexual signal used in mate choice—red versus orange male back plumage colour—but phylogeographic analyses suggest asymmetrical introgression of red plumage into the genetic background of the orange subspecies. We hypothesized that this asymmetrical introgression may be facilitated by sexual selection if red males have a mating advantage over orange males. We tested this hypothesis with correlational data and a plumage manipulation experiment where we reddened the back plumage of a subset of orange males to mimic males of the red subspecies. There was no correlational evidence of a mating advantage to naturally redder males in this population. Experimentally reddened males sired a similar amount of within-pair young and lost paternity at the same rate as orange males, but they sired significantly more extra-pair young, leading to substantially higher total reproductive success. Thus, we conclude that sexual selection via extra-pair mating is a likely mechanism responsible for the asymmetrical introgression of plumage colour in this system, and is potentially driven by a sensory bias for the red plumage signal.

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