Publication
Title
Female ornamentation and territorial conflicts in collared flycatchers (N:Ficedula albicollis})
Author
Abstract
Female ornaments in species with conventional sex roles often indicate individual quality, but the evolutionary forces maintaining them are less clear. Sexual competition for breeding opportunities may represent an important role for female signals, especially in polygynous species, but there is little experimental evidence for this. The wing patch size (WPS) of female collared flycatchers indicates age and body condition and predicts social mating patterns. We challenged nest-building females with decoy females of varying WPS and found that the aggressive response of residents increased with decoy WPS, suggesting a role for this female ornament in territorial competition. Our results explain why female WPS predicts territorial distances when mated to a polygynous male and indicate that the role of WPS in female competitive interactions is similar to that in males of the same population.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Die Naturwissenschaften / Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften [München] - Berlin, 1913, currens
Publication
Berlin : Springer , 2008
ISSN
0028-1042 [print]
1432-1904 [online]
DOI
10.1007/S00114-008-0408-6
Volume/pages
95 :10 (2008) , p. 993-996
ISI
000259737600014
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 08.12.2008
Last edited 25.05.2022
To cite this reference