The relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis)
Attracting females is considered to be one of the main functions of bird song. Both the rate and complexity of male song are assumed to be reliable, quality-related cues that may be used by the female when choosing a mate. In this study of the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) on Svalbard, both t...
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Language: | English |
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2002
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z02-033 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z02-033 |
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/z02-033 2024-09-15T18:31:08+00:00 The relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis) Hofstad, E Espmark, Y Moksnes, A Haugan, T Ingebrigtsen, M 2002 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z02-033 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z02-033 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 80, issue 3, page 524-531 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 journal-article 2002 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/z02-033 2024-09-05T04:11:14Z Attracting females is considered to be one of the main functions of bird song. Both the rate and complexity of male song are assumed to be reliable, quality-related cues that may be used by the female when choosing a mate. In this study of the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) on Svalbard, both these song parameters were considered as possible quality indicators for the female. Owing to the challenging environmental conditions in the High Arctic, a high degree of male effort is probably necessary to successfully raise the clutch. Male song rate and song complexity were therefore predicted to be correlated with early mating, male feeding rate during the female's incubation, male feeding rate during the nestling stage, and the number of fledglings produced. Although song length tended to be positively associated with the number of fledged young, the different song complexity parameters did not show any clear association with the onset of breeding, the male's food provisioning rate, and the number of fledglings. However, the song rate was significantly correlated with early mating, and there was a positive, although not significant, correlation between song rate and the rate at which older chicks were fed by the male. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that females might use male song rate to assess male quality and ability to participate in raising chicks. Article in Journal/Newspaper Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting Svalbard Canadian Science Publishing Canadian Journal of Zoology 80 3 524 531 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Canadian Science Publishing |
op_collection_id |
crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
Attracting females is considered to be one of the main functions of bird song. Both the rate and complexity of male song are assumed to be reliable, quality-related cues that may be used by the female when choosing a mate. In this study of the snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis) on Svalbard, both these song parameters were considered as possible quality indicators for the female. Owing to the challenging environmental conditions in the High Arctic, a high degree of male effort is probably necessary to successfully raise the clutch. Male song rate and song complexity were therefore predicted to be correlated with early mating, male feeding rate during the female's incubation, male feeding rate during the nestling stage, and the number of fledglings produced. Although song length tended to be positively associated with the number of fledged young, the different song complexity parameters did not show any clear association with the onset of breeding, the male's food provisioning rate, and the number of fledglings. However, the song rate was significantly correlated with early mating, and there was a positive, although not significant, correlation between song rate and the rate at which older chicks were fed by the male. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that females might use male song rate to assess male quality and ability to participate in raising chicks. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hofstad, E Espmark, Y Moksnes, A Haugan, T Ingebrigtsen, M |
spellingShingle |
Hofstad, E Espmark, Y Moksnes, A Haugan, T Ingebrigtsen, M The relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis) |
author_facet |
Hofstad, E Espmark, Y Moksnes, A Haugan, T Ingebrigtsen, M |
author_sort |
Hofstad, E |
title |
The relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis) |
title_short |
The relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis) |
title_full |
The relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis) |
title_fullStr |
The relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis) |
title_full_unstemmed |
The relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( Plectrophenax nivalis) |
title_sort |
relationship between song performance and male quality in snow buntings ( plectrophenax nivalis) |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2002 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z02-033 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z02-033 |
genre |
Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Plectrophenax nivalis Snow Bunting Svalbard |
op_source |
Canadian Journal of Zoology volume 80, issue 3, page 524-531 ISSN 0008-4301 1480-3283 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/z02-033 |
container_title |
Canadian Journal of Zoology |
container_volume |
80 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
524 |
op_container_end_page |
531 |
_version_ |
1810472752996417536 |