Abstract. We used a large dataset of greater flamingo chicks banded and measured at
Camargue, France, to verify the applicability of discriminant function
analysis to sex this species. Males and females sexed genetically differed
significantly in all of the morphological characters measured (body mass,
tarsus and wing length), with males being significantly larger than females.
Although the discriminant rate varied substantially from one year to
another, we found that it increased with the sample size of genetically
sexed individuals. Our results suggest that discriminant function analysis
(DFA) does not provide an efficient tool to sex greater flamingo chicks as
these relationship are highly variable across years, requiring the genetic
determination of sex on a large number of individuals every year for
calibrating the DFA and still providing an overall low accuracy in sex
determination. Indeed, conditions at breeding seasons can vary between years
and can be considered proximate causes affecting the correct
discriminant rate. Like previous studies, we recommend caution in dealing
with discriminant equations computed from small datasets, and our simulation
suggests that 325 genetically sexed individuals are needed to obtain 80 % correctly classified greater flamingo chicks.
Determination of Sex by Discriminant Function Analysis of Lateral Radiographic Cephalometry
