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Extrapair paternity in the swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana: male access or female preference?

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Abstract

Over the past two decades, the combination of molecular and field methods has revealed considerable variation in the level of extrapair fertilizations among socially monogamous birds. Models predicting extrapair young range in scale from a single population to multiple Orders, and there is no single, unifying theory for these reproductive tactics. We investigated proximate explanations of extrapair fertilizations in two subspecies of the swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana georgiana and Melospiza georgiana nigrescens, across a range of social and environmental conditions. The presence of extrapair young was best predicted by the size of two male plumage badges (one correlated with parental care and one with territorial aggression) relative to the badge size of their immediate neighbors, the interaction of these two measures, mean territory size, and the maximum size of the aggression badge among neighbors. The size of the male’s parental care badge (relative to neighbors) was negatively correlated with the probability of lost paternity. The relative size of the aggression badge was positively correlated with the presence of extrapair young when the parental care badge was small and negatively correlated when the badge was large. Controlling for these crown measures, males with larger territories were less likely to suffer losses in paternity. There was no effect of breeding density, breeding synchrony, their interaction, subspecies, or weather during the fertile period on the presence of extrapair young. These results suggest that female preference for males that provide more parental care (or preference for genes that convey this trait) plays a dominant role in extrapair interactions among swamp sparrows. Models based on female assessments of relative mate quality offer a promising explanation of patterns in extrapair fertilizations among bird species.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, Harry Ternent, the Western Maryland 4-H Education Center, and the Nature Conservancy for access to and use of our study sites. Field and laboratory research was funded by grants from the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, the Maryland Ornithological Society, the Washington Biologists’ Field Club, the Washington Group of the Explorer’s Club, the Eastern Bird Banding Association, the Smithsonian Institution’s Abbot Fund, Virginia Tech’s Graduate Research Development Program, the Bailey Fund at Virginia Tech, the Smithsonian Genetics Program, and both Smithsonian Institution Graduate and Pre-doctoral Fellowships. Jesus Maldonado, Jennifer Reed, and members of the Smithsonian Genetics Program supplied technical advice for genetic analysis. Much thanks to K. Kalasz, J. Wang, M. Powell, K. Murabito, J. Kolts, K. Callaway, A. Wessel, J. Adamson, B. Augustine, B. Beas, J. Felch, K. Heyden, and I. Liu for their help in the field. Animal handling was approved under the Conservation and Research Center Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, permit number 04-10, and US Federal Banding Permit number 22665.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, National Zoological Park, Washington, DC, 20008, USA

    Brian J. Olsen & Russell Greenberg

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, USA

    Brian J. Olsen & Jeffrey R. Walters

  3. Genetics Program, National Museum of Natural History & National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, 20008, USA

    Robert C. Fleischer

  4. School of Biology & Ecology, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Brian J. Olsen

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  1. Brian J. Olsen
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  2. Russell Greenberg
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  4. Jeffrey R. Walters
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Correspondence to Brian J. Olsen.

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Communicated by S. Pruett-Jones

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Olsen, B.J., Greenberg, R., Fleischer, R.C. et al. Extrapair paternity in the swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana: male access or female preference?. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63, 285–294 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-008-0660-y

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