Blue-green eggshell coloration is not a sexually selected signal of female quality in an open-nesting polygynous passerine
Jazyk angličtina Země Německo Médium print-electronic
Typ dokumentu časopisecké články, práce podpořená grantem
- MeSH
- Passeriformes fyziologie MeSH
- pigmentace fyziologie MeSH
- sexuální chování zvířat fyziologie MeSH
- sexuální výběr u zvířat MeSH
- tělesná konstituce fyziologie MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Check Tag
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- zvířata MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
It has been proposed that blue-green egg colours have evolved as a post-mating signal of female quality, selected by males allocating their parental effort in response to the strength of this signal. We tested two main assumptions of the sexually selected egg coloration hypothesis: (1) whether the intensity of eggshell blue-green chroma (BGC) reflects female quality; and (2) whether males make their decisions on the level of parental care that they provide according to the intensity of eggshell BGC. As a model species, we chose the facultatively polygynous great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus). In this species, females simultaneously paired with the same male, compete for his nest attendance and could benefit from signalling their quality through egg coloration. However, we found no association between the variation in eggshell BGC and the measures of female quality (physical condition, mean egg volume and age). Moreover, great reed warbler males did not adjust their investment (as measured in terms of nest defence against a brood parasite) in relation to the eggshell BGC. We conclude that blue-green egg coloration in this open-nesting passerine is unlikely to have a signalling function. Rather, the large colour variation among clutches of individual females may depend on yearly fluctuations in environmental conditions.
Zobrazit více v PubMed
Naturwissenschaften. 2010 Feb;97(2):173-80 PubMed
Evolution. 1998 Jun;52(3):877-883 PubMed
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2006 Aug;81(3):383-406 PubMed
Behav Processes. 2009 May;81(1):34-8 PubMed
Naturwissenschaften. 2008 Aug;95(8):713-21 PubMed
Proc Biol Sci. 2006 Nov 22;273(1603):2821-9 PubMed
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 Jan 8;99(1):251-6 PubMed
Evolution. 2005 Mar;59(3):636-44 PubMed
Comp Biochem Physiol B. 1976;55(1):117-23 PubMed
Proc Biol Sci. 2008 Oct 22;275(1649):2345-52 PubMed
Biol Lett. 2006 Sep 22;2(3):334-6 PubMed
Biol Lett. 2010 Aug 23;6(4):453-7 PubMed
Science. 1987 Feb 27;235(4792):1043-6 PubMed
Am Nat. 2008 Feb;171(2):183-94 PubMed
