Cargando…
Does Foraging Behaviour Affect Female Mate Preferences and Pair Formation in Captive Zebra Finches?
BACKGROUND: Successful foraging is essential for survival and reproductive success. In many bird species, foraging is a learned behaviour. To cope with environmental change and survive periods in which regular foods are scarce, the ability to solve novel foraging problems by learning new foraging te...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2010
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002270/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21179514 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014340 |
_version_ | 1782193718496854016 |
---|---|
author | Boogert, Neeltje J. Bui, Cavina Howarth, Krista Giraldeau, Luc-Alain Lefebvre, Louis |
author_facet | Boogert, Neeltje J. Bui, Cavina Howarth, Krista Giraldeau, Luc-Alain Lefebvre, Louis |
author_sort | Boogert, Neeltje J. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Successful foraging is essential for survival and reproductive success. In many bird species, foraging is a learned behaviour. To cope with environmental change and survive periods in which regular foods are scarce, the ability to solve novel foraging problems by learning new foraging techniques can be crucial. Although females have been shown to prefer more efficient foragers, the effect of males' foraging techniques on female mate choice has never been studied. We tested whether females would prefer males showing the same learned foraging technique as they had been exposed to as juveniles, or whether females would prefer males that showed a complementary foraging technique. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We first trained juvenile male and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to obtain a significant proportion of their food by one of two foraging techniques. We then tested whether females showed a preference for males with the same or the alternative technique. We found that neither a male's foraging technique nor his foraging performance affected the time females spent in his proximity in the mate-choice apparatus. We then released flocks of these finches into an aviary to investigate whether assortative pairing would be facilitated by birds taught the same technique exploiting the same habitat. Zebra finches trained as juveniles in a specific foraging technique maintained their foraging specialisation in the aviary as adults. However, pair formation and nest location were random with regard to foraging technique. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings show that zebra finches can be successfully trained to be foraging specialists. However, the robust negative results of the conditions tested here suggest that learned foraging specializations do not affect mate choice or pair formation in our experimental context. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-3002270 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2010 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-30022702010-12-21 Does Foraging Behaviour Affect Female Mate Preferences and Pair Formation in Captive Zebra Finches? Boogert, Neeltje J. Bui, Cavina Howarth, Krista Giraldeau, Luc-Alain Lefebvre, Louis PLoS One Research Article BACKGROUND: Successful foraging is essential for survival and reproductive success. In many bird species, foraging is a learned behaviour. To cope with environmental change and survive periods in which regular foods are scarce, the ability to solve novel foraging problems by learning new foraging techniques can be crucial. Although females have been shown to prefer more efficient foragers, the effect of males' foraging techniques on female mate choice has never been studied. We tested whether females would prefer males showing the same learned foraging technique as they had been exposed to as juveniles, or whether females would prefer males that showed a complementary foraging technique. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We first trained juvenile male and female zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) to obtain a significant proportion of their food by one of two foraging techniques. We then tested whether females showed a preference for males with the same or the alternative technique. We found that neither a male's foraging technique nor his foraging performance affected the time females spent in his proximity in the mate-choice apparatus. We then released flocks of these finches into an aviary to investigate whether assortative pairing would be facilitated by birds taught the same technique exploiting the same habitat. Zebra finches trained as juveniles in a specific foraging technique maintained their foraging specialisation in the aviary as adults. However, pair formation and nest location were random with regard to foraging technique. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings show that zebra finches can be successfully trained to be foraging specialists. However, the robust negative results of the conditions tested here suggest that learned foraging specializations do not affect mate choice or pair formation in our experimental context. Public Library of Science 2010-12-15 /pmc/articles/PMC3002270/ /pubmed/21179514 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014340 Text en Boogert et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Boogert, Neeltje J. Bui, Cavina Howarth, Krista Giraldeau, Luc-Alain Lefebvre, Louis Does Foraging Behaviour Affect Female Mate Preferences and Pair Formation in Captive Zebra Finches? |
title | Does Foraging Behaviour Affect Female Mate Preferences and Pair Formation in Captive Zebra Finches? |
title_full | Does Foraging Behaviour Affect Female Mate Preferences and Pair Formation in Captive Zebra Finches? |
title_fullStr | Does Foraging Behaviour Affect Female Mate Preferences and Pair Formation in Captive Zebra Finches? |
title_full_unstemmed | Does Foraging Behaviour Affect Female Mate Preferences and Pair Formation in Captive Zebra Finches? |
title_short | Does Foraging Behaviour Affect Female Mate Preferences and Pair Formation in Captive Zebra Finches? |
title_sort | does foraging behaviour affect female mate preferences and pair formation in captive zebra finches? |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3002270/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21179514 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014340 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT boogertneeltjej doesforagingbehaviouraffectfemalematepreferencesandpairformationincaptivezebrafinches AT buicavina doesforagingbehaviouraffectfemalematepreferencesandpairformationincaptivezebrafinches AT howarthkrista doesforagingbehaviouraffectfemalematepreferencesandpairformationincaptivezebrafinches AT giraldeaulucalain doesforagingbehaviouraffectfemalematepreferencesandpairformationincaptivezebrafinches AT lefebvrelouis doesforagingbehaviouraffectfemalematepreferencesandpairformationincaptivezebrafinches |