Elsevier

Animal Behaviour

Volume 77, Issue 2, February 2009, Pages 495-501
Animal Behaviour

Plumage coloration predicts paternity and polygyny in the American redstart

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.11.005Get rights and content

Many animals display multiple signals that can be used by conspecifics to gather information about the condition or quality of potential mates or competitors. Different signals can indicate different aspects of individual quality or function in spatially or temporally separated periods. However, for long-distance migratory birds, it is unclear if signals, such as plumage traits, function in different phases of the annual cycle. We investigated the potential role of carotenoid-based tail and flank plumage, and bib size, in relation to extrapair paternity and polygyny in the American redstart, Setophaga ruticilla. This work complements our previous research suggesting tail feather brightness acts as a status signal, mediating territory acquisition during the nonbreeding season in Jamaica. Here, we show that tail feather brightness also serves as an important signal during the breeding season. Specifically, our results indicate that polygyny, a behaviour highly dependent on obtaining and defending multiple territories, is significantly predicted by tail brightness. Interestingly, flank redness best predicted whether individuals secured paternity at their nest and the proportion of within-pair offspring sired. We suggest that by expanding the study of plumage function in long-distance migrants to events occurring throughout the annual cycle, we gain a critical perspective on the function and evolution of ornamental traits.

Section snippets

Field Data Collection

Field work was conducted May–July 2005–2007 at the Queen's University Biological Station, Chaffey's Lock, Ontario, Canada (44°34′N, 76°19′W). Our study area was composed of mixed-deciduous forest, primarily dominated by sugar maple (Acer sacchaurum) and eastern hophornbeam (Ostrya virginiana). When males arrive on the breeding grounds, they immediately begin singing for territory advertisement and to attract females. During 1–31 May, we surveyed our 60 ha study area from 0600 to 1200 hours,

Paternity Analysis

Of the 44 nests from 2005 to 2007 included in this study, 22 (50%) contained one or more extrapair offspring, while 45 of the 135 (33%) offspring analysed were extrapair. Of the 22 nests that contained extrapair offspring, seven had extrapair offspring that were sired by a single male, four had offspring sired by two extrapair males, and three had offspring sired by three extrapair males. We were unable to identify extrapair sires for the remaining nests. Of the 45 extrapair offspring, we were

Discussion

Our results suggest that the carotenoid-based tail and flank feathers of American redstarts may be different signals intended for different receivers. We found that redstarts with brighter tails were more likely to attain polygyny, while redstarts with more red (PC1) flanks were more likely to retain paternity at their nest (Fig. 2). Ultimately, however, realized fledging success was best predicted by arrival date on the breeding grounds. This result is consistent with previous research on our

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the hard work of the many field assistants that contributed to this study. R. Reudink, R. Germain, T. Murphy, B. Ballentine, M. Osmond and C. Studds provided insightful discussion and comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. We thank R. Montgomerie for the use of his colour analysis equipment, software and expertise. We thank C. Scott for molecular assistance. Funding was provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian

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    P. Boag and L. Ratcliffe are at the Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, ON K7L 3N6, Canada.

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