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Mating System Dynamics in Passerine Birds

Kimball, Scott Allen

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2009, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology.

In socially monogamous birds, the accurate advertisement and assessment of mate quality is essential in mate choice and fidelity decisions. To understand the relationships between mate quality, mate choice, and mate fidelity, I used eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) and tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) as models of socially monogamous passerine species in three studies of avian mating system biology.

During the 2006-2008 breeding seasons I investigated the relationship between condition during feather molt (using feather growth bar width from the previous post-breeding molt) and measures of male breeding season quality, including plumage coloration, body mass index, coloration and condition at time of feather growth of females obtained as mates, male feeding rates (bluebirds), and male ectoparasite loads (swallows). Body mass index was the best indicator of condition during the post-breeding molt. Neither male nor female plumage coloration was correlated with post-breeding molt. Furthermore, feeding rate and ectoparasite load did not add any explanatory power to models predicting molt condition. This study confirmed that condition at the time of molt is related to a measure of male quality during the subsequent breeding season.

In 2008 I tested the prediction that breeding female eastern bluebirds would use male breast coloration in mate choice decisions. I performed an aviary-based mate-choice experiment in which I manipulated the color of the melanin-pigmented orange-red breast of male bluebirds that were preferred by females (making preferred males redder than non-preferred males). Females unequivocally did not prefer males with duller orange-red breasts, as predicted, but instead, may have preferred males with redder breasts. This was the first known study to experimentally test the coloration of a melanin-based plumage patch in mate choice decisions.

Finally, during the breeding seasons of 2006-2008, I tested the prediction that female eastern bluebirds and tree swallows would divorce mates and change nest sites following poor reproductive success. I performed two experiments in which I simulated poor reproductive success either by removing all but one egg from clutches (simulating depredation) or by rendering all but one egg of clutches unviable (simulating poor hatching success). Neither female bluebirds nor swallows changed mates or sites based on recent reproductive performance. This was the first known study to experimentally test the effects of two different causes of poor reproductive success on mate or site fidelity in birds.

The results of these three studies on mate quality, mate choice, and mate and site fidelity contribute new insights into the mating system dynamics of two socially monogamous species of passerine birds. These findings have stimulated further questions which could potentially lead to future experiments that will elucidate the nature of the relationships of color to mate quality and mate choice and the nature of the pair bond in socially monogamous animals.

J. Andrew Roberts, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Thomas C. Grubb, Jr., Ph.D. (Advisor)
Richard A. Bradley, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
Paul G. Rodewald, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
120 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Kimball, S. A. (2009). Mating System Dynamics in Passerine Birds [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1242317441

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Kimball, Scott. Mating System Dynamics in Passerine Birds. 2009. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1242317441.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Kimball, Scott. "Mating System Dynamics in Passerine Birds." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1242317441

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)