Search results for "Polygyny"
showing 10 items of 10 documents
Determinants of the Mating Success of Polyterritorial Pied Flycatcher Males
2010
Much attention has been paid to the polyterritorial mating system of some passerine birds. Here we report how a male's mating success is related to the behavioral traits of polyterritorial pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) males. We found no evidence that the timing of polyterritoriality in relation to egg laying in the primary nest or the singing behavior of males have any influence on mating success. However, results show clearly that male mating success was improved with an increase in the distance between territories up to a distance of about 200–300 m whereupon there was no further enhancement of mating success. This finding is crucial for both the deception hypothesis and female-fe…
Polyterritorial Polygyny in the Pied Flycatcher
1990
Publisher Summary The chapter discusses on the evolution of polyterritoriality in Ficedulu hypofeuca species. It estimates the costs and benefits to males and females, and uses the results to evaluate current alternative polygyny models. This chapter also explains that secondary females raise fewer offspring that most likely are of poorer quality than offspring of monogamous and primary females. This is probably not because the secondary females are of lower quality than other females settling at the same time, but because one could not find any differences in age or morphology of simultaneously mated monogamous and secondary females. The main reason is that offspring raised by polygynously…
Social organization and the evolution of life-history traits in two queen morphs of the ant Temnothorax rugatulus.
2020
ABSTRACT During the evolution of social insects, not only did life-history traits diverge, with queens becoming highly fecund and long lived compared with their sterile workers, but also individual traits lost their importance compared with colony-level traits. In solitary animals, fecundity is largely influenced by female size, whereas in eusocial insects, colony size and queen number can affect the egg-laying rate. Here, we focused on the ant Temnothorax rugatulus, which exhibits two queen morphs varying in size and reproductive strategy, correlating with their colony's social organization. We experimentally tested the influence of social structure, colony and body size on queen fecundity…
Mating (marriage) patterns and economic development
2011
This paper looks at the relationship between economic development and mating (marriage) patterns in the very long run. For this purpose we introduce the Goldin and the Kuznets curves which relate female labour and income inequality with economic development respectively. To some extent, the Goldin and the Kuznets curves have followed opposite paths, which in turn, could illustrate how economic development has had an impact on mating (marriage) patterns, and thus household formation. Convergence in mating patterns among hunter-gatherers across societies vanished after the Neolithic revolution. Then, African polygyny and the ‘European’ marriage pattern developed into the most significant exce…
Punishment of polygyny
1999
We investigated the evolution of monogamy (one male, one female) and polygyny (one male, more than one female). In particular, we studied whether it is possible for a mutant polygynous mating strategy to invade a resident population of monogamous breeders and, alternatively, whether a mutant monogamy can invade resident polygyny. Our population obeys discrete-time Ricker dynamics. The role of males and females in the breeding system is incorporated via the harmonic birth function. The results of the invasability analysis are straightforward. Polygyny is an evolutionarily stable strategy mating system; this holds throughout the examined range of numbers of offspring produced per female. So t…
A Comparative Study of Phenotypic Changes in Microtus Social Organization
1990
Monogamy, polygyny, and promiscuity have been found in populations of M. oeconomus and M. agrestis in different environmental situations in northern Finland. Thus the mating systems seem to be more variable both between and within species in Microtus than in Clethrionomys. Spacing behavior in Microtus caused a temporary decline in population density in mid-summer, but in Clethrionomys a decline occurred only in the beginning of the breeding season. Habitat quality affected spacing behavior in similar ways in Microtus and Clethrionomys but did not affect differences in breeding limitation. Despite the differences in population regulation, both Clethrionomys and Microtus populations cycle syn…
School performance of children from monogamous and polygamous families in Nigeria
2014
Scholastic success of Nigerian children coming from polygamous ( n = 50) and monogamous families ( n = 156) was compared. No differences between the two groups were observed across background variables of demographics, parental education and occupation, or family support for schooling. There were no differences in the Junior Secondary School Entrance Exam scores between the groups. However, children from polygamous families reported more difficulties in mathematics and English than their counterparts from monogamous families. The findings are discussed in relation to previous research.
Female Attraction Behaviour of Radio Tagged Polyterritorial Pied Flycatcher Males
1993
AbstractPolygynous mating is costly for pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) females. Thus, females have a good reason to attempt to avoid mating with already mated polyterritorial males. One cue to disclose a male's mating status is his behaviour. The behaviour of polyterritorial and unmated males was studied by radio tagging that allows accurate recording of male movements. While attracting a secondary female polyterritorial males spent significantly less time on the secondary territory than did unmated males on their single territory. Polyterritorial males also tended to have lower song rates. When a female appeared on the secondary territory of polyterritorial males, they increased the …
BLOOD PARASITES AND MALE FITNESS IN THE PIED FLYCATCHER
1993
In vertebrates the effect of parasites on host ecology has almost been ignored. Recently the view that well-adapted parasites do not harm their hosts has been challenged and there is growing evidence that parasites do have a present-day effect on a great variety of host fitness components. The pied flycatcher is a small migratory passcrine bird. Any decrease in condition caused by disease should affect its ability to cope with physical demands of migration. Here we examine whether blood parasites have any effect on male arrival time. Males infected with Trypanosoma arrived on average 2 days later than males with no Trypanosoma infection. Infected males also had shorted tails and tended to h…
First cases of polygyny for the Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus in the central Pyrenees
2017
ABSTRACTWe report the first cases of polygyny for the Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus in the central Pyrenees, Spain. Although polyandry is frequent in the study area (31.8% of all reproductive units in 2016), we only observed the occurrence of three cases of polygyny over the period 1994–2017. Polygyny in Bearded Vultures is possibly a consequence of habitat saturation.