Date of Award
2008
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Program
Biology
Supervisor
Dr. Elizabeth Macdougall-Shackleton
Second Advisor
Dr. Bryan Neff
Third Advisor
Dr. Liana Zanette
Abstract
In many species, both females and males may adjust mating and parental investment tactics in response to the perceived attractiveness of their social mate. I examined how mate attractiveness (based on song complexity and genetic dissimilarity) affects female mating tactics, offspring sex allocation, offspring growth rates and parental feeding rates in a wild population of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia melodia). Male song complexity appeared to affect female mating tactics, as males that had smaller song repertoires lost paternity more frequently than did males retaining full paternity within the offspring of their social mate. Paternal song complexity was also predictive of male-biased offspring sex ratios near the end of the nestling period, although not earlier in the nestling period. Males with complex songs also provisioned offspring at higher rates, and consequently their nestlings grew at faster rates than offspring in nests of less complex singers. The degree to which social mates were genetically dissimilar to one another was positively related to rates of offspring growth and female nest visitation. This study contributes to the growing literature focused on the indirect and direct benefits females may receive by mating with highly ornamented or genetically dissimilar males.
Recommended Citation
Potvin, Dominique A., "PATERNAL ATTRACTIVENESS AND PARENTAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES IN SONG SPARROWS MELOSPIZA MELODIA" (2008). Digitized Theses. 4836.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4836