Flexible timing of reproductive effort as an alternative mating tactic in black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) males
| Type | Article | ||||||||||||
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| Date | 2016 | ||||||||||||
| Language | English | ||||||||||||
| Author(s) | Nieminen E.1, Kervinen M.1, Lebigre Christophe 2, Soulsbury C. D.3 |
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| Affiliation(s) | 1 : Univ Jyvaskyla, Dept Biol & Environm Sci, POB 35, FI-40014 Jyvaskyla, Finland. 2 : Earth & Life Inst, Pl Croix Sud 4,Carnoy Bldg, B-1348 Louvain La Neuve, Belgium. 3 : Lincoln Univ, Joseph Banks Labs, Sch Life Sci, Lincoln LN6 7TS, England. |
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| Source | Behaviour (0005-7959) (Brill Academic Publishers), 2016 , Vol. 153 , N. 8 , P. 927-946 | ||||||||||||
| DOI | 10.1163/1568539X-00003374 | ||||||||||||
| WOS© Times Cited | 4 | ||||||||||||
| Keyword(s) | alternative reproductive tactics, costs of reproduction, lekking, phenotype | ||||||||||||
| Abstract | Alternative reproductive tactics often take the form of dichotomous behavioural phenotypes. Focusing attention on such obvious dichotomy means that flexible patterns of behaviour within tactics is largely ignored. Using a long-term dataset of black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) lek behaviours, we tested whether there were fine-scale differences in reproductive effort (lek attendance, fighting rates) and whether these were related to age and phenotype. Yearling males increased their lek attendance and fighting rate to a peak when adult male effort was declining. Adults and yearlings allocated reproductive effort according to their body mass but this was unrelated to differences in timing of effort. In adult males, different patterns of lek attendance were associated with different costs of reproduction, measured by mass loss or gain. Overall, our work demonstrates that individuals can use flexible patterns of reproductive effort both in terms of their own condition, their age and the likely costs of behaviours. | ||||||||||||
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