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Extrapair paternity in chestnut-sided warblers is correlated with consistent vocal performance

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  • Bruce E. Byers

Abstract

The elaborateness of many bird songs is commonly presumed to have evolved under the influence of sexual selection by female mate choice. Thus, aspects of acoustic diversity, such as song repertoire size, are seen as likely targets of female choice. In many songbird species with song repertoires, however, the repertoires are small. In such species, female choice might be based on song features other than, or in addition to, song diversity. To investigate this conjecture, I assessed singing and paternity in a population of chestnut-sided warblers (Dendroica pensylvanica), a species in which song repertoires are of modest size. Twenty-two song traits were evaluated to determine which ones best predicted male extrapair reproductive success. The candidate traits encompassed measures of song diversity (e.g., song repertoire size), gross-scale song performance (e.g., singing rate), and fine-scale song performance (e.g., variability among songs in a bout). Regression analysis revealed that the best predictor of extrapair success was singing with little variability. In particular, the most successful males sang with consistent pitch and timing, as well as high pitch. The greater extrapair success of males with more consistent vocal performance may be due to female preference for such performance, which could be an indicator of male quality. Copyright 2007.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce E. Byers, 2007. "Extrapair paternity in chestnut-sided warblers is correlated with consistent vocal performance," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 18(1), pages 130-136, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:oup:beheco:v:18:y:2007:i:1:p:130-136
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/beheco/arl058
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    Cited by:

    1. Gabe Winter & Luis Wirsching & Holger Schielzeth, 2023. "Condition dependence of (un)predictability in escape behavior of a grasshopper species," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 34(5), pages 741-750.
    2. Grames, Eliza M. & Stepule, Piper L. & Herrick, Susan Z. & Ranelli, Benjamin T. & Elphick, Chris S., 2022. "Separating acoustic signal into underlying behaviors with self-exciting point process models," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 468(C).
    3. Puya Abbassi & Nancy Tyler Burley, 2012. "Nice guys finish last: same-sex sexual behavior and pairing success in male budgerigars," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(4), pages 775-782.
    4. Gonçalo C. Cardoso, 2012. "Paradoxical calls: the opposite signaling role of sound frequency across bird species," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(2), pages 237-241.
    5. Angelika Poesel & Douglas A. Nelson & H. Lisle Gibbs, 2012. "Song sharing correlates with social but not extrapair mating success in the white-crowned sparrow," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 23(3), pages 627-634.
    6. Emily R.A. Cramer, 2013. "Vocal deviation and trill consistency do not affect male response to playback in house wrens," Behavioral Ecology, International Society for Behavioral Ecology, vol. 24(2), pages 412-420.

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