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

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1921) ◽  
pp. 20192606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina B. Beck ◽  
Damien R. Farine ◽  
Bart Kempenaers
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Spatial Effects ◽  
Mating Patterns ◽  
Individual Traits ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Social Associations ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
Extra Pair Mating

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.

Extra-Pair Mating System of a Synchronously Breeding Tropical Songbird

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget J. M. Stutchbury ◽  
Eugene S. Morton ◽  
Walter H. Piper
Keyword(s):  
Mating System ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Extra Pair Mating

Bird research in the ACWERN lab at the Faculty of Forestry and Environmental Management, University of New Brunswick

2008 ◽  
Vol 84 (4) ◽  
pp. 548-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antony W Diamond
Keyword(s):  
New Brunswick ◽  
Forest Cover ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Spatial Effects ◽  
Winter Habitat ◽  
Forested Landscapes ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
Species Specific

Research on forest bird ecology in the ACWERN (Atlantic Cooperative Wildlife Ecology Research Network) lab at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, since 1995 has focused on assessing the relative contributions of habitat quality at large (“landscape”) and small (“local” or “stand”) spatial scales. To do so we had to develop methods for assessing key demographic components of fitness (productivity and survival) at large spatial scales. The large extent of forest cover in the Maritimes contrasts with regions where such work has traditionally been carried out, in which forest is clearly fragmented by agriculture or residential development. Our main findings are that spatial effects in highly forested landscapes can often be detected only by using species-specific habitat models, rather than broader categories such as “mature” or “softwood”, that Blackburnian Warblers (Dendroica fusca) are effective indicators of mixedwood forest but define it differently than forest managers do, and that cavity nesters (e.g., woodpeckers) may require different habitat components for nesting and feeding and so cannot be managed for solely on the basis of providing snags for nesting. Our focus has shifted recently to intensive studies on a species at risk, Bicknell's Thrush (Catharus bicknelli), which in New Brunswick breeds in man-made regenerating softwood forest stands, and assessing its response both to precommercial thinning of the breeding habitat and to effects carrying over from the winter habitat in the Caribbean. Key words: landscape effects, thresholds, survival, productivity, fitness, carry-over, habitat, fragmentation

scholarly journals Migratory connectivity in the context of differential migration

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 20180679 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martins Briedis ◽  
Silke Bauer
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Differential Mortality ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Migratory Connectivity ◽  
Differential Migration ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Breeding Populations ◽  
Conservation Actions ◽  
Carry Over ◽  
The Times

Understanding how breeding populations are spatially and temporarily associated with one another over the annual cycle has important implications for population dynamics. Migratory connectivity typically assumes that populations mix randomly; yet, in many species and populations, sex-, age- or other subgroups migrate separately, and/or spend the non-breeding period separated from each other—a phenomenon coined differential migration. These subgroups likely experience varying environmental conditions, which may carry-over to affect body condition, reproductive success and survival. We argue that environmental or habitat changes can have disproportional effects on a population's demographic rates under differential migration compared to random mixing. Depending on the relative contribution of each of these subgroups to population growth, environmental perturbations may be buffered (under-proportional) or amplified (over-proportional). Thus, differential migration may result in differential mortality and carry-over effects that can have concomitant consequences for dynamics and resilience of the populations. Recognizing the role of differential migration in migratory connectivity and its consequences on population dynamics can assist in developing conservation actions that are tailored to the most influential demographic group(s) and the times and places where they are at peril.

scholarly journals Experimental evidence that extra-pair mating drives asymmetrical introgression of a sexual trait

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1771) ◽  
pp. 20132175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T. Baldassarre ◽  
Michael S. Webster
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Similar Amount ◽  
Plumage Colour ◽  
Sensory Bias ◽  
Mating Advantage ◽  
Malurus Melanocephalus ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Correlational Data ◽  
Extra Pair Mating ◽  
Manipulation Experiment

Theory suggests that traits under positive selection may introgress asymmetrically across a hybrid zone, potentially driven by sexual selection. Two subspecies of the red-backed fairy-wren ( Malurus melanocephalus ) differ primarily in a sexual signal used in mate choice—red versus orange male back plumage colour—but phylogeographic analyses suggest asymmetrical introgression of red plumage into the genetic background of the orange subspecies. We hypothesized that this asymmetrical introgression may be facilitated by sexual selection if red males have a mating advantage over orange males. We tested this hypothesis with correlational data and a plumage manipulation experiment where we reddened the back plumage of a subset of orange males to mimic males of the red subspecies. There was no correlational evidence of a mating advantage to naturally redder males in this population. Experimentally reddened males sired a similar amount of within-pair young and lost paternity at the same rate as orange males, but they sired significantly more extra-pair young, leading to substantially higher total reproductive success. Thus, we conclude that sexual selection via extra-pair mating is a likely mechanism responsible for the asymmetrical introgression of plumage colour in this system, and is potentially driven by a sensory bias for the red plumage signal.

Female house wrens (Troglodytes aedon) increase the size, but not immunocompetence, of their offspring through extra-pair mating

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (16) ◽  
pp. 3697-3706 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA M.  FORSMAN ◽  
LAURA A.  VOGEL ◽  
SCOTT K.  SAKALUK ◽  
BONNIE G.  JOHNSON ◽  
BRIAN S.  MASTERS ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Troglodytes Aedon ◽  
House Wrens ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Extra Pair Mating

Distinguishing error from chaos in ecological time series

1990 ◽  
Vol 330 (1257) ◽  
pp. 235-251 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Population Density ◽  
Sampling Error ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Environmental Stochasticity ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Spatial Effects ◽  
Low Dimensional

Over the years, there has been much discussion about the relative importance of environmental and biological factors in regulating natural populations. Often it is thought that environmental factors are associated with stochastic fluctuations in population density, and biological ones with deterministic regulation. We revisit these ideas in the light of recent work on chaos and nonlinear systems. We show that completely deterministic regulatory factors can lead to apparently random fluctuations in population density, and we then develop a new method (that can be applied to limited data sets) to make practical distinctions between apparently noisy dynamics produced by low-dimensional chaos and population variation that in fact derives from random (high-dimensional)noise, such as environmental stochasticity or sampling error. To show its practical use, the method is first applied to models where the dynamics are known. We then apply the method to several sets of real data, including newly analysed data on the incidence of measles in the United Kingdom. Here the additional problems of secular trends and spatial effects are explored. In particular, we find that on a city-by-city scale measles exhibits low-dimensional chaos (as has previously been found for measles in New York City), whereas on a larger, country-wide scale the dynamics appear as a noisy two-year cycle. In addition to shedding light on the basic dynamics of some nonlinear biological systems, this work dramatizes how the scale on which data is collected and analysed can affect the conclusions drawn.

Extra-pair mating and sexual selection on male traits across populations

2014 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda A. Whittingham ◽  
Peter O. Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Extra Pair Mating
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