Influence of colour-banding on the conspecific preferences of zebra finches

Burley, Nancy; Krantzberg, Gail; Radman, Peter

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(82)80055-9

Cited by 317 publications

(168 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…To investigate this possibility, we capitalized on a previous finding from this laboratory that female zebra finches are attracted to males wearing red leg bands and have a mating aversion to males wearing green leg bands. In several mate-choice experiments (Burley et al 1982;Burley 1986bBurley , 1988, females averaged about twice as much time affiliating with males with red bands as they did with males with green bands; there was, however, considerable variability between individual females. We question whether this variation reflects a female's egg order and/or her digit ratio.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Digit ratio varies with sex, egg order and strength of mate preference in zebra finches

Burley

Foster

2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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The steroid environment encountered by developing vertebrates has important organizational effects on physiology and behaviour that persist throughout an organism's lifetime. Optimal allocation of maternal steroids to zygotes may be difficult to achieve because of the sexually antagonistic effects of steroids; thus, for example, a hormone environment beneficial to a developing male may be much less beneficial to a developing female. Research into the important topic of how mothers might adaptively adjust steroid titres experienced by particular young has been constrained by the difficulty of measuring the steroid environment experienced by the embryo at critical times in development. A potential approach to this problem has been suggested by research on variation in digit ratios in humans, where the ratio of the length of the second and fourth digits reflects the steroid environment experienced by the foetus; notably, digit 4 lengthens in response to androgens. In light of the conservative nature of homeobox genes regulating early development in tetrapods, we questioned whether a sex difference in digit ratio exists in a passerine bird, the zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata castanotis, and whether observed variation in the ratio is consistent with the previously reported pattern that androgen allocation to zebra finch egg yolk declines across laying order. We established an aviary population of outbred, wild-type zebra finches, and allowed them to breed freely. Hatchlings were marked to correspond to their egg order, and their digit ratios were measured after birds reached adulthood. We found that digit ratio increased across egg order, which is consistent with a pattern of decreasing androgen allocation. Moreover, digit ratios differed between the sexes. We also investigated whether variation in digit ratio among adult females predicted variation in their performance in mate-choice tests. Digit ratio accounted for almost 50% of the variance in strength of female preference for an attractive male trait: specifically, females with higher (presumably less 'androgenized') ratios had stronger preferences for attractive males. Digit ratio may prove to be an extremely useful tool for addressing a wide range of questions about vertebrate differentiation and behaviour.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Digit ratio varies with sex, egg order and strength of mate preference in zebra finches

Burley

Foster

2004

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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“…This has been interpreted as natural associations of red with dominance being extended to artificially displayed red in the same way that artificial stimuli can exploit innate responses to natural stimuli (BURLEY et al 1982;CUTHILL et al 1997). In contrast, it has also been recently shown that wearing blue colouration also increases chances of winning against white (ROWE et al 2005).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Attribution to red suggests special role in dominance signalling

Little¹,

Hill²

2007

Journal of Evolutionary Psychology

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Abstract. In many animals red is a signal of dominance and in humans there is evidence that red colouration may provide an advantage in sporting competition. This has been disputed by findings showing that colours other than red can also provide a competitive advantage. Here we examine basic perception of red versus blue in simple shapes by human judges to address the social signalling properties of red. We show that red is seen as more likely to win in physical competitions, more aggressive and more dominant then blue. When hue information is removed, however, the darker contrast of the blue shapes leads to a reversal in the attributions. This confirms that red hue is special in social attribution consistent with it being a signal of competitive quality and that darker contrast, through a potential link to testosterone signalling, could also act as a signal of dominance.

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“…These have proved to be a suitable model for studying behavioural aspects of mate choice in the laboratory in a number of studies (e.g. Burley et al 1982;Burley 1986a, b;Clayton 1990;Houtman 1992;Swaddle & Cuthill 1994a, b). Preferences observed in varying laboratory conditions have been shown to reflect mate choice preferences of non-captive zebra finches in their natural habitat (Burley 1988a).…”

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confidence: 99%

Reproductive success and symmetry in zebra finches

Swaddle

1996

Animal Behaviour

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Abstract. Fluctuating asymmetries are small, random developmental accidents in morphological traits that would otherwise be described as being bilaterally symmetric. Experimental evidence indicates that in mate choice situations individuals possessing symmetric arbitrary traits or symmetric secondary sexual characters are preferred over those with larger asymmetries. This experiment investigated the effect of symmetric and asymmetric arbitrary traits (arrangements of coloured leg-bands) on reproductive success in captive zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata. Six groups of six males and six females were separated into six free-flight breeding aviaries. Nestboxes and nesting material were freely available throughout the experiment. Males wore symmetric and asymmetric arrangements of the same coloured leg-bands. Each male wore two orange and two light green bands, two on each leg. There were six possible arrangements of these leg-bands. One male from each of these six leg-band treatments was present in each aviary, along with six females wearing numbered orange bands. Symmetrically banded males produced more offspring that survived past the period of parental care than males in either of the asymmetric treatments; this appeared to be the effect of female choice processes and female-based parental investment and not male intra-sexual dominance. This is the first experiment to indicate that symmetrically manipulated males gain reproductive advantages in controlled laboratory conditions and further supports recent theories indicating the evolutionary importance of symmetry in signalling-trait design.

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Influence of colour-banding on the conspecific preferences of zebra finches

Cited by 317 publications

References 18 publications

Digit ratio varies with sex, egg order and strength of mate preference in zebra finches

Digit ratio varies with sex, egg order and strength of mate preference in zebra finches

Attribution to red suggests special role in dominance signalling

Reproductive success and symmetry in zebra finches

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