Hill Geoffrey E
Department of Zoology and Wildlife Science, 331 Funchess Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, 36849.
Evolution. 1993 Oct;47(5):1515-1525. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1993.tb02172.x.
The house finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) is a sexually dichromatic passerine in which males display colorful plumage and females are generally drab brown. Some females, however, have a subdued version of the same pattern of ornamental coloration seen in males. In previous research, I found that female house finches use male coloration as an important criterion when choosing mates and that the plumage brightness of males is a reliable indicator of male nest attentiveness. Male house finches invest substantially in the care of young and, like females, stand to gain by choosing high-quality mates. I therefore hypothesized that a female's plumage brightness might be correlated with her quality and be the basis for male mate choice. In laboratory mate choice experiments, male house finches showed a significant preference for the most brightly plumaged females presented. Observations of a wild population of house finches, however, suggest that female age is the primary criterion in male choice and that female plumage coloration is a secondary criterion. In addition, yearling females tended to have more brightly colored plumage than older females, and there was no relationship between female plumage coloration and overwinter survival, reproductive success, or condition. These observations fail to support the idea that female plumage coloration is an indicator of individual quality. Male mate choice for brightly plumaged females may have evolved as a correlated response to selection on females to choose brightly colored males.
家朱雀（Carpodacus mexicanus）是一种具有两性色差异的雀形目鸟类，雄性具有色彩鲜艳的羽毛，而雌性通常为单调的褐色。然而，一些雌性具有与雄性所见相同装饰性色彩模式的柔和版本。在先前的研究中，我发现雌性家朱雀在选择配偶时将雄性的颜色作为重要标准，并且雄性的羽毛亮度是雄性对巢穴关注度的可靠指标。雄性家朱雀在照顾幼鸟方面投入巨大，并且与雌性一样，通过选择高质量的配偶也能有所收获。因此，我推测雌性的羽毛亮度可能与其质量相关，并成为雄性选择配偶的基础。在实验室配偶选择实验中，雄性家朱雀对展示的羽毛最鲜艳的雌性表现出显著偏好。然而，对家朱雀野生种群的观察表明，雌性年龄是雄性选择的主要标准，而雌性羽毛颜色是次要标准。此外，一岁龄雌性的羽毛往往比年长雌性的颜色更鲜艳，并且雌性羽毛颜色与越冬存活率、繁殖成功率或身体状况之间没有关系。这些观察结果未能支持雌性羽毛颜色是个体质量指标的观点。雄性对羽毛鲜艳的雌性的配偶选择可能是作为对雌性选择色彩鲜艳的雄性的选择的相关反应而进化而来的。
