Extra-pair paternity in the Saffron Finch is related to song peak frequency and body condition

ABSTRACT

In many avian species, age, body size, and song could signal quality or individual breeding experience and these traits are often correlated with reproductive success. The relationship between sexually selected signals and avian mating systems is a topic of active research, but still remains poorly investigated in species from southern latitudes. Here, we explored the relationships between body size, condition, age, song and social and genetic reproductive success in Sicalis flaveola pelzelni, a Neotropical thraupid. This socially monogamous species has both age-related changes in song and plumage colouration and extra-pair paternity. When measuring male song we found that a lower peak frequency may be associated with patterns of extra-pair paternity gain by males. We also found that male age may not have a marked effect on paternity assurance. In addition, we found that female body condition appears to influence on the proportion of extra-pair nestlings in females’ nests. We contribute novel data to help bridge the geographic and taxonomic gap in this research field.

KEYWORDS:

• Communication signals
• mating behaviour
• sexual selection
• songbird
• southern subtropical birds

Acknowledgements

We thank the authorities and personnel of the Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (INTECH- CONICET) for permission to work and reside on its premises. All methods employed related to capturing, handling and banding of the birds comply with the guidelines of the Dirección de Flora y Fauna (Buenos Aires province, Argentina). Specific permits to handle the birds were obtained from the Dirección de Flora y Fauna (permits no. 142/2013, 153/2014 and 65/2015). We acknowledge the thoughtful revision, comments and suggestions made by the anonymous reviewers and the Associate Editor which greatly contributed to improve this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/01584197.2022.2126988

Additional information

Funding

Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (PIP Research Grant to VM: 11220130100342CO/2014–2017), Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBACyT Research Grant to VM: 20020130100772BA/2014-2017), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (4370/2012, Doctoral Scholarship to MJBS) and the Animal Behavior Society (2015 Developing Nations Research Grant).