Correlations of Condition, Testosterone, and Age with Multiple Ornaments in Male House Sparrows: Patterns and Implications

Laucht, Silke; Dale, James

doi:10.1525/cond.2012.110194

Cited by 19 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Males may increase repertoire sizes with age by learning or delayed performance (Garamszegi et al . ), so song characteristics might be more age dependent than other traits (Laucht & Dale ). We might therefore expect extra‐pair males to have more exaggerated song characteristics because they are older.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are extra‐pair males different from cuckolded males? A case study and a meta‐analytic examination

et al. 2015

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Traditional models for female extra-pair matings assume that females benefit indirectly from extra-pair mating behaviour. Under these so-called adaptive models, extra-pair males are hypothesized to have more compatible genotypes, larger body size, exaggerated ornaments or to be older than cuckolded males. Alternatively, ('nonadaptive') models that consider female extra-pair matings to be a by-product posit that female extra-pair mating can be maintained even if there is no benefit to females. This could happen if, for example, males gained fitness benefits from extra-pair mating, while female and male extra-pair mating behaviours were genetically correlated. Extra-pair males are also expected to be older and larger if this improves their ability to convince or coerce females to mate. We investigated whether a female's extra-pair mates differed from her cuckolded mate in both genetic and phenotypic traits by analysing data from an insular house sparrow population. We found that extra-pair males were older than cuckolded males, consistent with both models. However, in contrast to the expectations from from adaptive models, extra-pair and cuckolded males were of similar genetic relatedness, and hence expected compatibility, with the female, and had comparable body size and secondary sexual traits. We also updated previous meta-analyses examining differences between extra-pair and cuckolded males. The meta-analytic results matched results from our house sparrow case study. Although we cannot completely exclude indirect benefits for females, nonadaptive models may better explain female extra-pair matings. These neglected alternative models deserve more research attention, and this should improve our understanding of the evolution of mating systems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are extra‐pair males different from cuckolded males? A case study and a meta‐analytic examination

et al. 2015

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“…Over the last several decades, researchers have focused much attention on ornamental signals, or traits that evolve and are maintained through the mate choice component of sexual selection. Major questions of interest have included the relative roles of intrasexual and intersexual selection in secondary sexual trait (SST) evolution (Andersson, Pryke, Ornborg, Lawes, & Andersson, 2002;Santos, Scheck, & Nakagawa, 2011); the information value of such signals (Andersson & Simmons, 2006;Zahavi, 1975), including the extent to which multiple ornaments provide independent versus redundant information on male quality (Hill, 2011;Johnstone, 1996;Laucht & Dale, 2012;Møller & Pomiankowski, 1993); and possible costs, constraints and trade-offs in ornament development and expression (Hebets & Papaj, 2005;Wagner, Beckers, Tolle, & Basolo, 2012), including the hypothesis that the cost to females of engaging in complex mate choice limits ornament number (Candolin, 2003;Iwasa & Pomiankowski, 1994).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mate choice decision rules: Trait synergisms and preference shifts

Burley

Hamedani

Symanski

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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An important and understudied question in sexual selection is how females evaluate information from multiple secondary sexual traits (SSTs), particularly when expression of traits is phenotypically uncorrelated. We performed mate choice experiments on zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis Gould) to evaluate two hypotheses: preference shifts (obstacles to choice using one trait increase chooser reliance on others) and trait synergisms (choice based on the sum/product of two or more independently varying traits). The first experiment, which employed males raised on diets that impact SST expression, supported the trait synergism hypothesis: overall, male pairing success was best predicted by synergisms involving beak color and cheek patch size. Results did not support the preference shift hypothesis. Results of a follow‐up experiment that included males reared on a single diet, and in which male beak color and cheek patch size were manipulated, were also consistent with the trait synergism hypothesis. Results have implications for understanding the long‐term persistence of multiple SSTs in populations and for the measurement of repeatability and heritability of mate preferences.

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“…Cross‐sectional studies have reported both increasing (e.g. Budden & Dickinson, ; Laucht & Dale, ) and declining (e.g. Garratt et al ., ; Edler & Friedl, ) signal expression with age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stabilizing survival selection on presenescent expression of a sexual ornament followed by a terminal decline

Simons

Briga

Verhulst

2016

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Senescence is a decrease in functional capacity, increasing mortality rate with age. Sexual signals indicate functional capacity, because costs of ornamentation ensure signal honesty, and are therefore expected to senesce, tracking physiological deterioration and mortality. For sexual traits, mixed associations with age and positive associations with life expectancy have been reported. However, whether these associations are caused by selective disappearance and/or within‐individual senescence of sexual signals, respectively, is not known. We previously reported that zebra finches with redder bills had greater life expectancy, based on a single bill colour measurement per individual. We here extend this analysis using longitudinal data and show that this finding is attributable to terminal declines in bill redness in the year before death, with no detectable change in presenescent redness. Additionally, there was a quadratic relationship between presenescent bill colouration and survival: individuals with intermediate bill redness have maximum survival prospects. This may reflect that redder individuals overinvest in colouration and/or associated physiological changes, while below‐average bill redness probably reflects poorer phenotypic quality. Together, this pattern suggests that bill colouration is defended against physiological deterioration, because of mate attraction benefits, or that physiological deterioration is not a gradual process, but accelerates sharply prior to death. We discuss these possibilities in the context of the reliability theory of ageing and sexual selection.

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Correlations of Condition, Testosterone, and Age with Multiple Ornaments in Male House Sparrows: Patterns and Implications

Cited by 19 publications

References 55 publications

Are extra‐pair males different from cuckolded males? A case study and a meta‐analytic examination

Are extra‐pair males different from cuckolded males? A case study and a meta‐analytic examination

Mate choice decision rules: Trait synergisms and preference shifts

Stabilizing survival selection on presenescent expression of a sexual ornament followed by a terminal decline

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