Female mate preferences and male attributes in mallard ducks Anas platyrhynchos

Holmberg, K.; Edsman, Lennart; Klint, Thorsten

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(89)80060-0

Cited by 38 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…Display rate and patrol rate (important attributes found by Baird et al 2003) may be under correlated selection with sprint speed if there is the same underlying physiological basis. However, further research is necessary to determine to what extent easily modifiable behavioral traits, such as display traits, that have been shown to predict mating success (Holmberg et al 1989;Hill et al 1999;Topping and Millar 1999;Kodric-Brown and Nicoletto 2001) interact with and/or are constrained by whole-animal performance traits and variation in its underlying morphological and physiological traits. We predict that in other polygynous taxa where easily modifiable, nonmaximal behavioral traits significantly predict mating success, there is an underlying whole-animal performance trait that is under the direct influence of sexual selection.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faster Lizards Sire More Offspring: Sexual Selection on Whole-Animal Performance

et al. 2006

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Abstract. Sexual selection operates by acting on variation in mating success. However, since selection acts on wholeorganism manifestations (i.e., performance) of underlying morphological traits, tests for phenotypic effects of sexual selection should consider whole-animal performance as a substrate for sexual selection. Previous studies have revealed positive relationships between performance and survival, that is, natural selection, but none have explicitly tested whether performance may influence reproductive success (through more matings), that is, sexual selection. Performance predicts dominance in some species, implying the effects of sexual selection, but how it does so has not been established, nor is it certain whether performance might be a by-product of selection for something else, for example, elevated circulating testosterone levels. We investigated the potential for sexual selection on sprint speed performance in collared lizards (Crotaphytus collaris), considering the potential mediating effects of circulating hormone levels. Among territorial, adult male collared lizards, only sprint speed significantly predicted territory area and number of offspring sired as determined by genetic paternity analysis. Body size, head size, and hind limb length had no effect. Neither plasma testosterone levels nor corticosterone levels correlated with sprint speed, territory area, or number of offspring sired. Thus, our results provide a direct link between whole-animal performance and reproductive success, suggesting that intrasexual selection can act directly on sprint speed performance and drive the evolution of underlying morphological traits.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Faster Lizards Sire More Offspring: Sexual Selection on Whole-Animal Performance

et al. 2006

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“…Females preferred males that courted intensely and were attentive (i.e., followed them and maintained close proximity). Display activity and attentiveness have also been shown to strongly influence mate choice in female mallards (Cheng et al 1979;Bossema and Kruijt 1982;Kruijt et al 1983;Holmberg et al 1989). What do females gain by choosing attentive males that court vigorously?…”

Section: Behavioral Traitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Males also threaten and/or fight with one another as they compete for positions in front of the female. Previous studies have shown that dominance rank, courtship activity, age, male attentiveness, and plumage condition are all associated with male pairing success in mallards (A. platyrhynchos ;Cheng et al 1979;Klint 1980;Bossema and Kruijt 1982;Williams 1982;Kruijt et al 1983;Bossema and Roemers 1985;Holmberg et al 1989;Weidmann 1990). The separate effects of male behavioral and morphological traits on mate choice have not yet been measured for any waterfowl species, however, nor has any study distinguished whether these traits function in male-male competition, female choice, or both.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual selection in the northern pintail (Anas acuta): the importance of female choice versus male-male competition in the evolution of sexually-selected traits

Sorenson

Derrickson

1994

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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We experimentally studied the relative importance of plumage, dominance status, and courtship behavior in determining male pairing success in the northern pintail Arias acuta and assessed whether these traits function in female choice, male-male competition or both. In an experiment (experiment 1A) that eliminated the confounding effects of male-male competition and social courtship, females chose males with pure white breasts and colorful scapular feathers. When the same group of birds were free to interact (experiment 1B), male behavior was more important: females chose males that courted them intensely and were attentive to them, although preferred males again had whiter breasts and more colorful scapulars. In a second experiment (experiment 2), testing the effect of age on pairing success, females showed a significant preference for 2-year-old males over yearlings: 2-year-old males courted more and were more attentive to the female than yearlings; they were also more colorful than yearlings in a number of plumage measurements. Although males (in both experiments 1B and 2) were aggressive to one another while courting the female and dominant males were sometimes able to exclude subordinates from social courtship, contrary to expectation, we found no relationship between initial dominance rank and pairing success or dominance rank and age. In addition, dominance was not correlated with any of the morphological traits measured. Once chosen, however, subordinate males typically initiated fights with the higher-ranked male(s) and quickly achieved dominance. These results suggest that (1)females choose L.G.Sorenson ([]) -males based on a suite of morphological and behavioral characteristics, (2) male dominance relationships do not constrain active female choice, (3) a male's position in a dominance hierarchy is largely a result rather than a cause of female choice, and (4) female choice plays a more significant role than male-male competition in the evolution of several secondary sexual traits in male northern pintails.

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“…That plumage immaculateness potentially acts as a sexually selected signal is demonstrated, for example, by the fact that mallard drakes Anas platyrhynchos with unevenly coloured and poor quality plumage are less attractive to females (Johnsgard 1960; Klint 1980; Williams 1983; Holmberg et al. 1989).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Value of Immaculate Mates: Relationships between Plumage Quality and Breeding Success in Shelducks

Ferns

Lang

2003

Ethology

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Immaculateness, a novel measure of bird plumage quality, defined as the regularity of the borders of a coloured patch of feathers, and the uniformity of the colour within the patch, tends to decline as a result of feather wear and damage. If it declines more quickly amongst birds in poor condition, it has the potential to act as an honest signal of individual quality and therefore be subject to social and sexual selection. We scored plumage immaculateness in shelducks Tadorna tadorna, based on the absence of white feathers in the red‐brown chest band and the evenness of the band's border. We monitored body condition and plumage quality in birds at feeding sites in the Severn Estuary (UK) during the early breeding season when females were forming eggs, and later in the season when chicks arrived. Drakes had more immaculate chest bands than ducks. At preferred feeding sites, drakes were more immaculate, and birds of both sexes were in better body condition. Birds with more immaculate plumage tended to mate assortatively at preferred sites and were more likely to produce a brood that survived the journey to the feeding areas. Immaculateness could therefore be an honest signal of parental quality. Although our evidence is only correlational, we suggest that plumage immaculateness indicates the ability to establish and maintain control over the best breeding sites and feeding territories in the face of competition with other shelducks.

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Female mate preferences and male attributes in mallard ducks Anas platyrhynchos

Cited by 38 publications

References 19 publications

Faster Lizards Sire More Offspring: Sexual Selection on Whole-Animal Performance

Faster Lizards Sire More Offspring: Sexual Selection on Whole-Animal Performance

Sexual selection in the northern pintail (Anas acuta): the importance of female choice versus male-male competition in the evolution of sexually-selected traits

The Value of Immaculate Mates: Relationships between Plumage Quality and Breeding Success in Shelducks

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