6 research outputs found
Utilisation de l'information sociale, ses effets sur le choix du partenaire et le maintien des couples chez les oiseaux monogames : le cas du diamant mandarin (Taeniopygia guttata)
Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal
Neighbours' Breeding Success and the Sex Ratio of Their Offspring Affect the Mate Preferences of Female Zebra Finches
Several hypotheses on divorce predict that monogamous pairs should split up more frequently after a breeding failure. Yet, deviations from the expected pattern “success-stay, failure-leave” have been reported in several species. One possible explanation for these deviations would be that individuals do not use only their own breeding performance (i.e., private information) but also that of others (i.e., public information) to decide whether or not to divorce. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the relative importance of private and public information for mate choice decisions in female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).We manipulated the reproductive performance of breeding pairs and measured females' preferences for their mate and the neighbouring male first following pair formation and then seven weeks later when all females had laid eggs and the young were independent. Although all females reduced their preference for their mate after a breeding failure, the decrease was significant only when the neighbouring pair had reproduced successfully. Furthermore, there was no evidence that females biased the sex ratio of their offspring according to their mate's attractiveness. On the other hand, after reproduction, both successful and unsuccessful females increased their preferences for males who had produced a larger proportion of sons. Despite the fact that other mechanisms may have also contributed to our findings, we suggest that females changed their mate preferences based on the proportion of sons produced by successful males, because offspring sex ratio reflects the male's testosterone level at the moment of fertilization and hence is an indicator of his immune condition
Mean preference of females for their breeding partner versus the neighbouring male, for the three different configurations: 1) successful females whose neighbouring pair reproduced unsuccessfully (<i>N</i> = 6), 2) unsuccessful females whose neighbouring pair reproduced successfully (<i>N</i> = 6) and 3) unsuccessful females whose neighbouring pair reproduced unsuccessfully (<i>N</i> = 6).
<p>The white and grey boxes represent the percent of time (±SEM) spent by females in front of their breeding partner before and after reproduction, respectively.</p
Plan view of the mate choice apparatus.
<p>The grey lines represent the perches while the black lines correspond to the partitions that are either opaque (full lines) or clear (dashed lines).</p
Percent of choosing time spent with each of the 6 successful males by their breeding partner (<i>x</i> axis) or the neighbouring female (<i>y</i> axis) before (a) and after (b) reproduction.
<p>Percent of choosing time spent with each of the 6 successful males by their breeding partner (<i>x</i> axis) or the neighbouring female (<i>y</i> axis) before (a) and after (b) reproduction.</p