Jiguet Frédéric, Bretagnolle Vincent
UMR7204 MNHN-CNRS-UPMC, Centre de Recherches sur la Biologie des Populations d'Oiseaux, 55 Rue Buffon, CP 51, 75005 Paris, France.
Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, F-79360 Beauvoir sur Niort, France.
Behav Processes. 2014 Mar;103:246-55. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.01.008. Epub 2014 Jan 17.
In their choice of mates, females may use alternative tactics, including a comparative assessment of males in a population, using one or several relative preference criteria. Traits involved in female choice should presumably be variable between, but not within males, thus potentially providing reliable cues of male identity and quality for prospecting females. In lekking species, sexual selection is usually intense, and females can freely choose mates. Studying the Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax, a bird with an exploded lek mating system, we first identified male phenotypic traits that showed higher among, than within variation (plumage pattern, display rates and call structure). Among those and other traits (ornaments and their symmetry, body condition, lek spatial organization and territory quality), we identified phenotypic traits that correlated with male attractiveness toward females. At least four phenotypic male traits were correlated with female attraction, i.e. body condition, lek attendance, ornamental symmetry and display rates. Traits related to the initial female attraction on male territory seem to differ from traits related to the decision of females to stay in the territory of attractive males.
在选择配偶时，雌性可能会采用不同的策略，包括利用一个或多个相对偏好标准，对种群中的雄性进行比较评估。雌性选择所涉及的特征大概在雄性之间存在差异，但在雄性个体内部不会有差异，因此有可能为寻找配偶的雌性提供关于雄性身份和质量的可靠线索。在求偶场交配的物种中，性选择通常很激烈，雌性可以自由选择配偶。通过研究小鸨（Tetrax tetrax）这种具有分散求偶场交配系统的鸟类，我们首先识别出了在雄性之间而非雄性个体内部表现出更大差异的雄性表型特征（羽毛图案、展示频率和叫声结构）。在这些特征以及其他特征（装饰及其对称性、身体状况、求偶场空间组织和领地质量）中，我们确定了与雄性对雌性的吸引力相关的表型特征。至少有四个雄性表型特征与雌性的吸引力相关，即身体状况、求偶场出勤率、装饰对称性和展示频率。与雌性最初被吸引到雄性领地相关的特征似乎与雌性决定留在有吸引力的雄性领地相关的特征有所不同。
