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Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches
BACKGROUND: Mate-choice copying is a form of social learning in which an individual gains information about potential mates by observing conspecifics. However, it is still unknown what kind of information drives the decision of an individual to copy the mate choice of others. Among zebra finches (Ta...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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BioMed Central
2015
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4591742/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26435729 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-015-0119-8 |
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author | Kniel, Nina Schmitz, Jennifer Witte, Klaudia |
author_facet | Kniel, Nina Schmitz, Jennifer Witte, Klaudia |
author_sort | Kniel, Nina |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Mate-choice copying is a form of social learning in which an individual gains information about potential mates by observing conspecifics. However, it is still unknown what kind of information drives the decision of an individual to copy the mate choice of others. Among zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis), only females (not males) copy the mate choice of others. We tested female zebra finches in a binary choice test where they, first, could choose between two males of different phenotypes: one unadorned male and one male artificially adorned with a red feather on the forehead. After this mate-choice test, females could observe a single unadorned male and a pair of zebra finches, i.e. a wild-type female and her adorned mate. Pair interactions were either restricted to acoustic and visual communication (clear glass screen between pair mates) or acoustic communication alone (opaque screen between pair mates). After the observation period, females could again choose between new males of the two phenotypes in a second mate-choice test. RESULTS: In experiments with a clear glass screen, time spent with the respective males changed between the two mate-choice tests, and females preferred adorned over unadorned males during the second mate-choice test. In experiments with an opaque screen, time spent with the respective males did not change between the two mate-choice tests, although females lost an initial preference for unadorned males. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that the quality of the received public information (visual and acoustic interaction of the observed pair) influences mate-choice copying in female zebra finches. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12983-015-0119-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-4591742 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2015 |
publisher | BioMed Central |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-45917422015-10-03 Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches Kniel, Nina Schmitz, Jennifer Witte, Klaudia Front Zool Research BACKGROUND: Mate-choice copying is a form of social learning in which an individual gains information about potential mates by observing conspecifics. However, it is still unknown what kind of information drives the decision of an individual to copy the mate choice of others. Among zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis), only females (not males) copy the mate choice of others. We tested female zebra finches in a binary choice test where they, first, could choose between two males of different phenotypes: one unadorned male and one male artificially adorned with a red feather on the forehead. After this mate-choice test, females could observe a single unadorned male and a pair of zebra finches, i.e. a wild-type female and her adorned mate. Pair interactions were either restricted to acoustic and visual communication (clear glass screen between pair mates) or acoustic communication alone (opaque screen between pair mates). After the observation period, females could again choose between new males of the two phenotypes in a second mate-choice test. RESULTS: In experiments with a clear glass screen, time spent with the respective males changed between the two mate-choice tests, and females preferred adorned over unadorned males during the second mate-choice test. In experiments with an opaque screen, time spent with the respective males did not change between the two mate-choice tests, although females lost an initial preference for unadorned males. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that the quality of the received public information (visual and acoustic interaction of the observed pair) influences mate-choice copying in female zebra finches. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12983-015-0119-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. BioMed Central 2015-10-01 /pmc/articles/PMC4591742/ /pubmed/26435729 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-015-0119-8 Text en © Kniel et al. 2015 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. |
spellingShingle | Research Kniel, Nina Schmitz, Jennifer Witte, Klaudia Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches |
title | Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches |
title_full | Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches |
title_fullStr | Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches |
title_full_unstemmed | Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches |
title_short | Quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches |
title_sort | quality of public information matters in mate-choice copying in female zebra finches |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4591742/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26435729 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-015-0119-8 |
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