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Behavioral Ecology Vol. 13 No. 5: 670-675
© 2002 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

Increased cuckoldry as a cost of breeding late for male house wrens (Troglodytes aedon)

L. Scott Johnson, Bonnie G. Hicks and Brian S. Masters

Department of Biology, Towson University, Towson, MD 21252, USA

Address correspondence to L.S. Johnson. E-mail: sjohnson{at}towson.edu.

One factor hypothesized to influence the reproductive behavior of individuals is the degree to which reproductive efforts are synchronized with others in the population. We asked whether the timing of a pair's breeding cycle, relative to cycles of pairs on neighboring territories, affected rates of extrapair mating over 2 years in a Wyoming population of house wrens (Troglodytes aedon). Extrapair young (identified using 5 microsatellite loci) occurred in 74% of nests of 19 pairs whose cycles began later than cycles of one or more neighbors compared to only 26% of nests of 27 pairs whose cycles began earlier than, or simultaneously with, cycles of all neighbors. Extrapair offspring occurred in 65% of 17 nests belonging to males who initially settled and began nesting early relative to neighbors but who were forced to renest late after we removed their first mates. Rates of cuckoldry were not significantly different for forced-late and naturally late males. Our experimental approach controlled for possible effects of male quality, clearly demonstrating an effect of timing of breeding on extrapair mating activity.

Key words: breeding synchrony, extrapair mating, house wrens, Troglodytes aedon.


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