Reproductive tactics in the American redstart

• Main Author: Perreault, Stéphane, 1967-
• Other Authors: Lemon, Robert E. (advisor)
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: McGill University 1994
• Subjects: Setophaga ruticilla > Behavior; Sexual selection in animals
• Online Access: http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=22789

The occurrence of three reproductive tactics in a population of American redstarts was estimated: extra-pair fertilization, egg-dumping, and male polyterritoriality. Using DNA fingerprinting we show that none of 108 nestlings samples were the result of egg dumping. In contrast, 40% of nestlings were the result of extra-pair fertilizations. Males sired a greater proportion of their broods as they aged. In addition, promiscuous females were never fertilized by males that were younger than their social mates. Whether the poor reproductive performance of younger males was caused by female preference for older males or by intra-sexual competition was not determined. In any case, females would have benefited by mating with older males, if the traits that allowed the survival of the father were inherited by the females' offspring. Only three of 80 males attracted two females through polyterritoriality. One male fledged two broods: he sired both nestlings from his first brood, but none of the four nestlings from his second brood. We concluded that male redstarts can improve their reproductive success by trying to obtain extra-pair copulations, but less so by establishing a second territory.