Experimental manipulation shows that the white wing patch in collared flycatchers is a male sexual ornament.

ABSTRACT: Descriptive analysis suggests that a conspicuous white wing patch in dichromatic (black and white) pied and collared flycatchers is under sexual selection. Here, we use an experimental approach to test whether this trait is indeed the target of selection. We caught 100 collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis males soon after their arrival on the breeding site. We reduced (blackened) part of the white wing patch in half of these males and recorded their mating success and within and extra-pair offspring production. Reduction of the size of the white wing patch lowered a male's probability to attract a secondary social female, but not a primary female. However, primary females paired to males with a reduced wing patch were smaller (in tarsus), suggesting that male choice of partner or female

SUBMITTER: de Heij ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3287330 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature