Body size, first year breeding, and extra-pair paternity in an island endemic, the Island Scrub-Jay
Date
2014
Authors
Desrosiers, Michelle A., author
Angeloni, Lisa M., advisor
Ghalambor, Cameron K., advisor
Funk, W. Chris, committee member
Sillett, T. Scott, committee member
Crooks, Kevin R., committee member
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Abstract
Body size is a fundamental characteristic that shapes all aspects of an organism's biology. The advantages of large body size may include increased probability of territory acquisition, a critical component of fitness for species that require a territory to breed. Large body size, an indicator of quality, may also be advantageous to males in acquiring mates, including matings outside of a pair bond. Such advantages could be especially important in island systems because habitat saturation may result in strong intra-specific competition for territories, and females may be especially motivated to seek large extra-pair mates to increase the body size of their offspring. We tested the role of body size in determining the ability of an island-endemic bird, the Island Scrub-Jay, Aphelocoma insularis, to acquire a territory and breed in their first spring, as well as to sire extra-pair offspring. We compared the body size of individuals that obtained a territory and bred to those that did not, as well as the body size of social fathers to the extra-pair sires to whom they lost paternity. We found that large body size was important in the siring of extra-pair young. However, body size did not predict the ability of male or female Island Scrub-Jays to acquire a territory and breed in their first year. We suggest that year-to-year variation in environmental conditions and chance may be more important than a large body size or weapon performance in early territory acquisition. Our study provides evidence for a mechanism, specifically female preference for a large body size in males, that supports the observed rates of extra-pair paternity, and demonstrates the general difficulty, even for individuals with a relatively large body size, of acquiring a territory as a yearling in an island system with saturated habitat.
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Subject
territory acquisition
body size
extra-pair paternity
Island Scrub-Jay