Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

01 May, 06 AM - 31 Jul, 06 AM

In species with extensive paternal care such as passerine birds, optimally balancing tradeoffs between mating effort, paternal effort, and self-maintenance may be critical to maximizing individual fitness. Balancing tradeoffs between mating and paternal effort may be particularly important in males, which can greatly enhance reproductive output through multiple mating, but also play critical parental roles in many species. To optimize fitness across contexts, males may plastically adjust mating and paternal effort to condition-dependent sexual attractiveness and competitive ability, and to environmental variables that alter payoffs of mating and paternal effort. Further, male condition and environment may interact to impact patterns of reproductive allocation. For instance, in collared flycatcher (Ficedula albicollis), males with large condition-dependent ornaments invest in mating over paternal care, and show depressed care relative to ?unattractive? males, only when opportunities for achieving social polygyny and extrapair paternity are abundant. However, ambiguity persists regarding whether reproductive tradeoffs impact even males in high condition, and the capacity of males to adjust reproductive allocation to physiological and environmental cues. In many species, high quality males may be able to invest highly in all elements of reproductive effort, such that plasticity in reproductive allocation is non-essential. Further, in some species, males show limited capacity to adjust reproductive allocation to context. In this case, inter-male differences in reproductive allocation may be largely genetic, and correlate to genetic differences in coloration. In yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia), males vary in sexual ornamentation and patterns of reproductive allocation, but whether differences in ornamentation and reproductive allocation reflect adaptive condition- and environment-dependence remains the subject of debate. I will use multiple metrics of male condition, spectrometric analysis of ornaments, and detailed behavioral and fitness measures to determine if reproductive allocation in male D. petechia is adaptively adjusted to condition, and condition-dependent ornaments. Further, I will manipulate adult predation risk near nests, to assess if this important environmental variable interacts with male condition to impact reproductive allocation. My work will establish the complexity and limits of plastic reproductive allocation by males, elucidate the potential for genetically fixed alternative strategies to persist in populations, and has implications to understanding dynamics of sexual selection.

Visit #20963 @Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

Approved

Under Project # 21465 | Research

Plasticity in reproductive allocation: Do males adjust mating and paternal effort to individual condition and environment?

graduate_student - University of California, Riverside

Reservation Members(s)

Andrea Grunst May 1 - Jul 31, 2010 (92 days)

Reserve Resources(s) | Create Invoice

Dorm 1 May 1 - Jul 31, 2010
Q1 1 May 1 - Jul 31, 2010
Q2 1 May 1 - Jul 31, 2010
Q3 1 May 1 - Jul 31, 2010
Q8 1 May 1 - Jul 31, 2010