Difference in arrival date at the breeding site between former pair members predicts divorce in blue tits

Gilsenan, Carol; Vâlcu, Mihai; Kempenaers, Bart

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.09.004

Cited by 13 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…We presume that the breeding time constraint facilitates early breeding with available mates instead of waiting for the former partner, especially since early breeding is associated with higher nest survival (Plaschke et al, ; van de Pol, Heg, Bruinzeel, Kuijper, & Verhulst, ; Székely et al, ). Since snowy plovers only have about 2 years of breeding life (average breeding life of males: 2.3 ± 1.6 years; females: 1.9 ± 1.2 years; Colwell, Pearson, Eberhart‐Phillips, & Dinsmore, ), they may not discriminate against previous mates even if they were failed breeders Furthermore, returning to the breeding ground may be stochastic and this can also produce decoupling between nesting success and mate fidelity (Bried, Frédéric, & Jouventin, ; Gilsenan, Valcu, & Kempenaers, ; Handel & Gill, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1.9 ± 1.2 years; Colwell, Pearson, Eberhart-Phillips, & Dinsmore, 2013), they may not discriminate against previous mates even if they were failed breeders Furthermore, returning to the breeding ground may be stochastic and this can also produce decoupling between nesting success and mate fidelity (Bried, Frédéric, & Jouventin, 1999;Gilsenan, Valcu, & Kempenaers, 2017;Handel & Gill, 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mate fidelity in a polygamous shorebird, the snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus)

Halimubieke

Valdebenito

Harding

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Social monogamy has evolved multiple times and is particularly common in birds. However, it is not well understood why some species live in long‐lasting monogamous partnerships while others change mates between breeding attempts. Here, we investigate mate fidelity in a sequential polygamous shorebird, the snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus), a species in which both males and females may have several breeding attempts within a breeding season with the same or different mates. Using 6 years of data from a well‐monitored population in Bahía de Ceuta, Mexico, we investigated predictors and fitness implications of mate fidelity both within and between years. We show that in order to maximize reproductive success within a season, individuals divorce after successful nesting and re‐mate with the same partner after nest failure. Therefore, divorced plovers, counterintuitively, achieve higher reproductive success than individuals that retain their mate. We also show that different mating decisions between sexes predict different breeding dispersal patterns. Taken together, our findings imply that divorce is an adaptive strategy to improve reproductive success in a stochastic environment. Understanding mate fidelity is important for the evolution of monogamy and polygamy, and these mating behaviors have implications for reproductive success and population productivity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mate fidelity in a polygamous shorebird, the snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus)

Halimubieke

Valdebenito

Harding

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…By contrast, individuals can interact with others in different contexts for many months prior to breeding. Previous studies suggest that social associations among individuals before the breeding season can translate into the spatial breeding arrangement during spring [30] and potentially predict mating decisions, including social pair formation [31,32] and between-season divorce [33,34]. These findings suggest that social associations prior to breeding may also provide the opportunity for individuals to identify potential extra-pair mates or to form bonds with opposite-sex individuals other than the social mate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Winter associations predict social and extra-pair mating patterns in a wild songbird

2020

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Despite decades of research, our understanding of the underlying causes of within-population variation in patterns of extra-pair paternity (EPP) remains limited. Previous studies have shown that extra-pair mating decisions are linked to both individual traits and ecological factors. Here, we examine whether social associations among individuals prior to breeding also shape mating patterns, specifically the occurrence of EPP, in a small songbird, the blue tit. We test whether associations during the non-breeding period predict (1) future social pairs, (2) breeding proximity (i.e. the distance between breeding individuals) and (3) the likelihood that individuals have extra-pair young together. Individuals that were more strongly associated (those that foraged more often together) during winter tended to nest closer together. This, by itself, predicts EPP patterns, because most extra-pair sires are close neighbours. However, even after controlling for spatial effects, female–male dyads with stronger social associations prior to breeding were more likely to have extra-pair young. Our findings reveal a carry-over from social associations into future mating decisions. Quantifying the long-term social environment of individuals and studying its dynamics is a promising approach to enhance our understanding of the process of (extra-)pair formation.

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“…Thus, we also examined whether the occurrence of EPP is more consistent between years when the focal individual breeds with the same partner. Furthermore, past studies reported that divorced blue tits might still have extrapair young with their previous partner ( Valcu and Kempenaers 2008 ; Gilsenan et al 2017 ). Thus, for individuals paired with a different social partner, we assessed whether changes in levels of EPP depended on the presence of the former partner in the neighborhood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of within-individual variation in extrapair paternity in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) shows low repeatability and little effect of changes in neighborhood

2020

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Many studies investigated variation in the frequency of extrapair paternity (EPP) among individuals. However, our understanding of within-individual variation in EPP remains limited. Here, we comprehensively investigate variation in EPP at the within-individual level in a population of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Our study is based on parentage data comprising >10 000 genotyped offspring across 11 breeding seasons. First, we examined the repeatability of the occurrence of EPP, the number of extrapair offspring, the number of extrapair partners, and the occurrence of paternity loss using data from males and females that bred in multiple years. Second, we tested whether within-individual changes in EPP between breeding seasons relate to between-year changes in the local social environment. Repeatabilities were generally low but significant for the occurrence and number of extrapair young in females and for whether a male sired extrapair young or not. We found no evidence that the presence of the former social partner or changes in the proportion of familiar individuals or in phenotypic traits of the neighbors influenced changes in levels of EPP in females. However, in adult males, a decrease in the average body size of male neighbors was associated with higher extrapair siring success. If confirmed, this result suggests that the competitive ability of a male relative to its neighbors influences his extrapair mating success. We suggest that alternative hypotheses, including the idea that within-individual changes in EPP are due to “chance events” rather than changes in an individual’s social breeding environment, deserve more consideration.

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Difference in arrival date at the breeding site between former pair members predicts divorce in blue tits

Cited by 13 publications

References 54 publications

Mate fidelity in a polygamous shorebird, the snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus)

Mate fidelity in a polygamous shorebird, the snowy plover (Charadrius nivosus)

Winter associations predict social and extra-pair mating patterns in a wild songbird

Analysis of within-individual variation in extrapair paternity in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) shows low repeatability and little effect of changes in neighborhood

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