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Degree of protandry reflects level of extrapair paternity in migratory songbirds

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Abstract

Males of most migratory organisms, including many birds, precede female conspecifics on their journey to the breeding areas. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of protandrous migration, yet they have rarely been tested at the interspecific level. Here, we provide correlational support for the “mate opportunity” hypothesis, which assumes that selection favours protandry in polygynous species where males gain significant fitness benefits from arriving earlier than females. Drawing on phenological data collected at two northern European stopover sites, we show that the time-lag in spring passage between males and females of five Palearctic migratory songbird species is positively associated with levels of extrapair paternity available from the literature. This suggests that males arrive relatively more in advance of females in species with high sperm competition where sexual selection through female choice is intense. Thus, protandry may arise from selection on the relative arrival timing of males and females rather than from selection within one of the sexes.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank K. Hüppop, O. Hüppop, J.M. Lausten, P. Lyngs, and J. Rabøl for ensuring the high quality of data collected at Vogelwarte Helgoland and Christiansø Research Station, as well as the numerous voluntary coworkers at these observatories. We thank F. Bairlein, A.P. Møller, F. Pulido, and C. Rahbek for critical appraisal of the manuscript. The Danish National and Nature Agency and The National Environmental Research Institute financed the collection of the Christiansø data. A.P.T. is supported by Danish National Science Foundation grant J. nr. 21-03-0221.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Avian Research, “Vogelwarte Helgoland”, An der Vogelwarte 21, 26386, Wilhelmshaven, Germany

    Timothy Coppack

  2. Center for Macroecology, Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Anders P. Tøttrup

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, CB2 3EJ, Cambridge, UK

    Claire Spottiswoode

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  1. Timothy Coppack
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  2. Anders P. Tøttrup
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  3. Claire Spottiswoode
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Correspondence to Timothy Coppack.

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Communicated by F. Bairlein

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Coppack, T., Tøttrup, A.P. & Spottiswoode, C. Degree of protandry reflects level of extrapair paternity in migratory songbirds. J Ornithol 147, 260–265 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-006-0067-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-006-0067-3

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