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Delayed plumage maturation in birds and the significance of condition-dependent parental care

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Abstract

Several hypotheses have suggested that delayed plumage maturation (DPM) in male birds evolves to increase crypsis or to deter adult aggression towards inexperienced young males. Here, we present novel extensions of a game theory modeling framework to investigate the evolutionary mechanisms of DPM in a bird population. We reveal that increasing either the maximum survival rate or predation risk can promote the evolution of DPM. Longer life span and transferrable physical condition between breeding years show a significant mutual promotion effect on DPM evolution, and would also enable the evolution of DPM in some species with no reproductive output in year one. Our models indicate that sufficiently high investment on adult plumage is essential for the evolution of DPM, which is consistent with some previous empirical studies. Finally, we highlight the significance of condition-dependent male parental care and provide new insight into how sexual conflict over parental care between parents may influence the evolution of DPM in birds. Our results should help researchers better test the DPM delayed-investment strategy hypothesis with empirical data.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (31301886). We sincerely thank Ryan Norris, Yi Tao, and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on the original version of the manuscript. We also thank Theo C. M. Bakker for the assistance in formatting our manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100101, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Nan Lyu & Yue-Hua Sun

  2. School of Science and Environment, Division of Biology and Conservation Ecology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester, M1 5GD, UK

    Huw Lloyd

Authors
  1. Nan Lyu
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  2. Huw Lloyd
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  3. Yue-Hua Sun
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Correspondence to Yue-Hua Sun.

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Communicated by K. McGraw

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Lyu, N., Lloyd, H. & Sun, YH. Delayed plumage maturation in birds and the significance of condition-dependent parental care. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 69, 1003–1010 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-015-1912-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-015-1912-2

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