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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on March 24, 2006
Behavioral Ecology 2006 17(4):539-546; doi:10.1093/beheco/arj061
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Primary sex ratio adjustment to experimentally reduced male UV attractiveness in blue tits

Peter Korstena, C. (Kate) M. Lessellsb, A. Christa Matemanb, Marco van der Veldea and Jan Komdeura

a Animal Ecology Group, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Studies, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 14, 9750 AA Haren, The Netherlands and b Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Centre for Terrestrial Ecology, P.O. Box 40, 6666 ZG Heteren, The Netherlands

Address correspondence to P. Korsten. E-mail: p.korsten{at}rug.nl.

The study of primary sex ratio adjustment in birds is notorious for inconsistency of results among studies. To develop our understanding of avian sex ratio variation, experiments that test a priori predictions and the replication of previous studies are essential. We tested if female blue tits Parus caeruleus adjust the sex ratio of their offspring to the sexual attractiveness of their mates, as was suggested by a previous benchmark study on the same species. In 2 years, we reduced the ultraviolet (UV) reflectance of the crown feathers of males in the period before egg laying to decrease their attractiveness. In contrast to the simple prediction from sex allocation theory, we found that the overall proportion of male offspring did not differ between broods of UV-reduced and control-treated males. However, in 1 year, the UV treatment influenced offspring sex ratio depending on the natural crown UV reflectance of males before the treatment. The last result confirms the pattern found in the previous blue tit study, which suggests that these complex patterns of primary sex ratio variation are repeatable in this bird species, warranting further research into the adaptive value of blue tit sex ratio adjustment to male UV coloration.

Key words: blue tit Parus caeruleus, male attractiveness, primary sex ratio, sex allocation, ultraviolet plumage.


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