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Female throat ornamentation does not reflect cell-mediated immune response in bluethroats Luscinia s. svecica

  • Behavioural Ecology
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Abstract

The brilliantly coloured throat patch in male bluethroats, Luscinia s. svecica, influences their social mating success and both within- and extra-pair paternity. Female bluethroats are highly variable in their extent of throat coloration, from entirely drab to almost male-like. The ornament in females could be due to a genetic correlation between the sexes. However, it has been shown that male bluethroats prefer brightly coloured females, suggesting that female ornamentation has evolved by direct sexual selection on females through male choice. Males may prefer extravagant traits in females if these reliably signal female quality, such as resistance to disease. We investigated whether variation in the extent of structural and melanin plumage ornamentation in female bluethroats reflects cell-mediated immune response. We caught the females at their nests and measured their immune response as a swelling following a challenge by phytohemagglutinin. An analysis of the data from two years of study revealed that the cell-mediated immune response was not related to female ornamentation. However, the immune response was strongly correlated with female body condition. Thus, our results do not support the hypothesis that female ornament expression signals quality in terms of cell-mediated immunity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Roger Dahl, Karin Lindström, Roy Mangersnes, Roar Rismark and Dave Showler for dedicated help in the field, and Elisabeth Forsgren, Ivar Herfindal, Karin Lindström, Christophe Pélabon, Andreas Svensson, Åslaug Viken and two anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the quality of the manuscript. The PHA experiment was approved by the Norwegian Animal Research Authority. Financial support was provided by Norwegian Research Council.

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  1. Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    Henrik Pärn & Trond Amundsen

  2. Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, Box 1172, Blindern, 0318, Oslo, Norway

    Jan T. Lifjeld

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  1. Henrik Pärn
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  2. Jan T. Lifjeld
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Correspondence to Henrik Pärn.

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Communicated by Markku Orell

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Pärn, H., Lifjeld, J.T. & Amundsen, T. Female throat ornamentation does not reflect cell-mediated immune response in bluethroats Luscinia s. svecica . Oecologia 146, 496–504 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0209-y

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