Female song rate and structure predict reproductive success in a socially monogamous bird

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dc.citation.volume4
dc.contributor.authorBrunton DH
dc.contributor.authorRoper MM
dc.contributor.authorHarmer AMT
dc.date.available2016
dc.date.available2016-03-01
dc.date.issued1/03/2016
dc.description.abstractBird song is commonly regarded as a male trait that has evolved through sexual selection. However, recent research has prompted a re-evaluation of this view by demonstrating that female song is an ancestral and phylogenetically widespread trait. Species with female song provide opportunities to study selective pressures and mechanisms specific to females within the wider context of social competition. We investigated the relationship between reproductive success and female song performance in the New Zealand bellbird (Anthornis melanura), a passerine resident year round in New Zealand temperate forests. We monitored breeding behavior and song over 3 years on Tiritiri Matangi Island. Female bellbirds contributed significantly more toward parental care than males (solely incubating young and provisioning chicks at more than twice the rate of males). Female song rate in the vicinity of the nest was higher than that of males during incubation and chick-rearing stages but similar during early-nesting and post-breeding stages. Using GLMs, we found that female song rates during both incubation and chick-rearing stages strongly predicted the number of fledged chicks. However, male song rate and male and female chick provisioning rates had no effect on fledging success. Two measures of female song complexity (number of syllable types and the number of transitions between different syllable types) were also good predictors of breeding success (GLM on PC scores). In contrast, song duration, the total number of syllables, and the number of “stutter” syllables per song were not correlated with fledging success. It is unclear why male song rate was not associated with reproductive success and we speculate that extra-pair paternity might play a role. While we have previously demonstrated that female bellbird song is important in intrasexual interactions, we clearly demonstrate here that female song predicts reproductive success. These results, with others, highlight the need for a change in how we view the significance of female secondary sexual traits; traits long underestimated due to a focus on male song.
dc.description.publication-statusPublished
dc.identifierhttp://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000517761700013&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=c5bb3b2499afac691c2e3c1a83ef6fef
dc.identifierARTN 13
dc.identifier.citationFRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION, 2016, 4
dc.identifier.doi10.3389/fevo.2016.00013
dc.identifier.elements-id260540
dc.identifier.harvestedMassey_Dark
dc.identifier.issn2296-701X
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10179/11321
dc.publisherFrontiers in Ecology and Evolution
dc.relation.isPartOfFRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
dc.subjectfemale song
dc.subjectparental investment
dc.subjectreproductive success
dc.subjectsocial selection
dc.subjectsong rate
dc.subjectsong structure
dc.subjectsong performance
dc.subjectfemale-female competition
dc.subject.anzsrc0602 Ecology
dc.subject.anzsrc0603 Evolutionary Biology
dc.titleFemale song rate and structure predict reproductive success in a socially monogamous bird
dc.typeJournal article
pubs.notesNot known
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences/School of Natural and Computational Sciences
pubs.organisational-group/Massey University/College of Sciences/School of Natural Sciences
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