RT Journal Article
T1 Phenology-mediated effects of phenotype on the probability of social polygyny and its fitness consequences in a migratory passerine
A1 Canal, David
A1 Schlicht, Lotte
A1 Santoro, Simone
A1 Camacho, Carlos
A1 Martínez Padilla, Jesús
A1 Potti, Jaime
AB Why females engage in social polygyny remains an unresolved question in species where the resources provided bymales maximize female fitness. In these systems, the ability of males to access several females, as well as the willingnessof females to mate with an already mated male, and the benefits of this choice, may be constrained by thesocio‑ecological factors experienced at the local scale. Here, we used a 19‑year dataset from an individual‑monitoredpopulation of pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) to establish local networks of breeding pairs. Then, we examinedwhether the probability of becoming socially polygynous and of mating with an already mated male (thus becominga secondary female) is influenced by morphological and sexual traits as proxies of individual quality relative to theneighbours. We also evaluated whether social polygyny is adaptive for females by examining the effect of females’mating status (polygamously‑mated vs monogamously‑mated) on direct (number of recruits in a given season) andindirect (lifetime number of fledglings produced by these recruits) fitness benefits. The phenotypic quality of individuals,by influencing their breeding asynchrony relative to their neighbours, mediated the probability of being involvedin a polygynous event. Individuals in middle‑age (2–3 years), with large wings and, in the case of males, with conspicuoussexual traits, started to breed earlier than their neighbours. By breeding locally early, males increased theirchances of becoming polygynous, while females reduced their chances of mating with an already mated male. Ourresults suggest that secondary females may compensate the fitness costs, if any, of sharing a mate, since their numberof descendants did not differ from monogamous females. We emphasize the need of accounting for local breedingsettings (ecological, social, spatial, and temporal) and the phenotypic composition of neighbours to understandindividual mating decisions.
PB BMC
SN 1471-2148
YR 2021
FD 2021-04
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19850
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19850
LA eng
NO Canal, D., Schlicht, L., Santoro, S. ... Potti, J. (2021). Phenology-mediated effects of phenotype on the probability of social polygyny and its fitness consequences in a migratory passerine. BMC Ecology and Evolution, 21(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12862-021-01786-w
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 30 may 2026