Collaborative Research: Sexual Selection on Male Ornamental Traits in Birds

合作研究：男性装饰性选择PI：Peter Dunn，Corey Freeman-GallantMales通常具有装饰性特征，如长尾和鲜艳的颜色，它们用来吸引配偶。这些饰品可能会受到女性的青睐，也可能会受到男性与男性的竞争。女性的选择可能会影响到不同的饰品，而不是男性对男性的竞争，特别是当一些饰品比其他饰品更能揭示男性的品质时。例如，在同时含有类胡萝卜素(红色、黄色)和黑色素(黑色、棕色)饰品的物种中，雌性似乎经常将配偶选择集中在基于胡萝卜素的饰品上，这通常被认为是比含有黑色素的饰品更好的男性状况指标。令人惊讶的是，我们发现了两个一夫一妻制鸟类的种群，常见的黄喉鸟，其中一个种群(纽约)的雄性繁殖成功与基于类胡萝卜素的装饰物(黄色围嘴)的大小有关，而另一个种群(威斯康星州)的雄性繁殖成功与基于黑色素的装饰物(黑色面膜)的大小有关。我们的研究将检查两个种群中每个羽毛饰品的性别选择。本研究将1)使用鸟类实验来确定哪些饰品更受雌性选择和雄雄竞争的青睐，以及2)确定种群之间的差异是否是由于不同饰品的不同选择机制造成的。普通黄喉是为数不多的几个物种中的一个，研究人员能够识别大多数年轻人的父亲，包括额外配对的年轻人，因此，他们能够估计男性装饰品的全部选择力量。该项目的一个更广泛的影响将是促进对学生进行合作研究的培训，这将使他们对如何进行科学有更好的看法。为了促进这一培训，私人投资机构将每年在他们的两个机构(一个是小型本科生机构，另一个是大型研究生课程)之间交换学生，学习项目的实地和实验室部分。

Collaborative Research: Sexual Selection on Male OrnamentsPI: Peter Dunn, Corey Freeman-GallantMales often possess ornamental traits such as long tails and bright colors that they use to attract mates. These ornaments may be favored by female choice or male-male competition. Female choice is likely to act on different ornaments than male-male competition, particularly when some ornaments are more revealing of male quality than others. For example, in species with both carotenoid (red, yellow) and melanin (black, brown)-based ornaments, it appears that females often focus their mate choice on the carotenoid-based ornaments, which are generally considered to be better indicators of male condition than ornaments with melanin pigments. Surprisingly, we have discovered two populations of a monogamous bird, the common yellowthroat, in which male reproductive success is related to the size of a carotenoid-based ornament (yellow bib) in one population (New York) and a melanin-based ornament (black facial mask) in another population (Wisconsin). Our study will examine sexual selection on each plumage ornament in both populations.This study will 1) use aviary experiments to identify which ornaments are favored by female choice and male-male competition, and 2) determine if the differences between populations are caused by different mechanisms of selection operating on different ornaments. Common yellowthroats are one of only a handful of species in which researchers have been able to identify the sires of most young, including extra-pair young, and, as a consequence, make an estimate of the full force of selection on male ornaments. One of the broader impacts of this project will be to foster training of students in collaborative research, which will give them a better perspective on how science is conducted. To facilitate this training, the PIs will exchange students between their two institutions (one a small undergraduate institution, the other a large graduate program) each year for both the field and laboratory components of the project.