Paternity Loss in Relation to Male Age, Territorial Behaviour and Stress in the Pied Flycatcher

Abstract

For sexual selection to operate in monogamous species, males of poor quality in some factor like age, ornamentation, condition or aggressiveness, should lose paternity compared with higher quality males. We tested this idea in an Iberian population of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca). Microsatellite analysis of 67 broods revealed moderate levels of extra-pair paternity (22.4% of broods, 7.5% of young). In a sample of 58 broods for which the caring male was identified, a higher paternity loss was associated with younger males, males that were less aggressive during territorial intrusion tests performed before the commencement of laying, and with males that showed higher levels of corticosterone metabolites in faecal samples collected at the end of the nestling period. Plumage darkness, forehead patch size and condition were not related to paternity loss. Paternity loss is more related to behavioural or physiological traits than to morphological ones in this population.The study has received financial support from projects CGL2004- 00787 ⁄BOS and CGL2007-61251 to J. Moreno and BOS2003-05724 to SM (DGI-Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´ n). At the time of the field study, J. Morales and GT were supported by grants from MEC and Comunidad de Madrid respectively. EL was supported by a FPU grant from MEC at the time of laboratory analyses of CORT metabolites in Vienna. RAV acknowledges support from a grant CSIC-Universidad de Chile 2003-04-09 during his stay in Madrid, and from ICM-P05-002 and from PFB-23-CONICYT-Chile

Stress responses of the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) to different urban land uses

“…These studies have showed that when a stressor agent is present, corticosterone concentration is 2-17 times higher than in control treatments where stress agents are absent (Buchanan, 2000;Romero, 2004;Thiel et al, 2008;Moreno et al, 2010). For example, Dickcissels (Spiza americana) with corticosterone concentrations ∼6 ng/g in the absence of stressor agents, increased their values to ∼102 ng/g when they where subject to a stressor agent (Kimberly et al, 2003).…”

Heritability and genetic correlation between the sexes in a songbird sexual ornament

“…Before discussing the implications of our findings, we should briefly consider if extra-pair fertilisations, which being relatively frequent in pied flycatchers (Lifjeld et al, 1991;Gelter and Tegelströ m, 1992;Brü n et al, 1996;Moreno et al, 2010), could be biasing our estimates of resemblance. Our data on extra pair fertilisations (D Canal, J Potti and JA Dávila, paper under review) do not allow for a proper estimation of their effect on trait heritability because of a combination of two events with low frequency, that is, recruiting to adult age (which is needed for the ornament being measured; average recruitment rate ¼ 14%, both sexes combined; N ¼ 14 years and 4536 fledglings; Montalvo, 1991b, Lehtonen et al, 2009) and being sired by a male other than the social 'father' (average rate of extra-pair paternity about 15%; D Canal and J Potti, unpublished data).…”

Becoming more like your mate: hormonal similarity reduces divorce rates in a wild songbird

“…Evidence from a few studies indicates that pair separation or mating with an unattractive partner increases circulating levels of corticosterone (Angelier et al 2007;Griffith, Pryke, & Buttemer, 2011;RemageHealey et al 2003). Higher levels of faecal corticosterone metabolites (Moreno et al 2010) and baseline corticosterone (Villavicencio, Apfelbeck, & Goymann, 2014) are also found to be associated with a greater loss of paternity in males. In white-throated sparrows, Zonotrichia albicollis, during the parental/nestling phase whitestriped morph males have higher levels of baseline corticosterone than tan-striped males (Horton & Holberton, 2010;Swett & Breuner, 2008), and white-striped males also have more extrapair fertilizations and provide less parental care than the tan-striped males (Tuttle, 2003).…”