DISSERTATION RESEARCH: From Individuals to Populations: Female Decisions and Group Size Variation in Barn Swallows

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FROM INDIVIDUALS TO POPULATIONS:FEMALE DECISIONS AND GROUP SIZE VARIATION IN BARN SWALLOWSPROJECT SUMMARYUsing information gathered experimentally on the individual habitat- and mate-selectiondecisions of barn swallows to model population-level patterns of group size variation, this studyoffers a new perspective for examining the causes and consequences of group breeding. Thesamples necessary to evaluate the relationship between a known signal of individual quality,feather coloration, and the social and genetic mate choice of females across different groupsizes were collected during a field experiment in 2002. Funds are requested to conduct geneticparentage analyses using variation in five polymorphic microsatellite loci. These data will (1)provide information about the differences between social and genetic mates selection andwhether these vary with group size; (2) are necessary to parameterize the mate selection rulesfor an agent-based model; and (3) will also add to our knowledge of the effects of density onfemale mate choice decisions, a relationship that has only once been examined experimentallyand has potentially large impacts on sexual selection. Additionally, the genotype data will beused for the independent honor's thesis of a Cornell undergraduate and the DNA samples willbe deposited in the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Genetics Facility and made widely available toother researchers.