AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

Sexual Selection in a Socially Monogamous Bird: Male Color Predicts Paternity Success in the Mountain Bluebird, Sialia currucoides

Publication Type:Journal Article
Year of Publication:2009
Authors:Balenger, SL, L. Johnson, S, Masters, BS
Journal:Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Volume:63
Issue:3
Date Published:2009
ISBN Number:03405443
Keywords:Sialia, Sialia currucoides, Turdidae
Abstract:Ornamental traits are thought to evolve because they give individuals an advantage in securing multiple mates. Thus, the presence of ornamentation among males in many monogamous bird species presents something of a conundrum. Under certain conditions, extra-pair paternity can increase the variance in reproductive success among males, thus increasing the potential for sexual selection to act. We addressed this possibility in the mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), a socially monogamous songbird in which males possess brilliant ultraviolet (UV)-blue plumage. Specifically, we asked whether a male's success at siring offspring within his own nest and within the nests of other males was related to his coloration. In pairwise comparisons, males that sired extra-pair offspring were not more colorful than the males that they cuckolded. However, males that sired at least one extra-pair offspring were, on average, brighter and more UV-blue than males that did not sire extra-pair offspring. Brighter, more UV-blue males sired more offspring both with their own mate and tended to sire more offspring with extra-pair mates and thus sired more offspring overall. Our results support the hypothesis that the brilliant UV-blue ornamental plumage of male mountain bluebirds evolved at least in part because it provides males with an advantage in fertilizing the eggs of multiple females.
URL:http://www.jstor.org/stable/40295303
Short Title:Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Taxonomic name: 
Scratchpads developed and conceived by (alphabetical): Ed Baker, Katherine Bouton Alice Heaton Dimitris Koureas, Laurence Livermore, Dave Roberts, Simon Rycroft, Ben Scott, Vince Smith