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Crimson-breasted Shrike females with extra pair offspring contributed more to duets

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Abstract

Many socially monogamous bird species follow a genetically promiscuous reproductive strategy. Duetting birds may be an exception, as they appear to exhibit very low levels of extra pair paternity—which is thought to be connected to duetting. Duets are predicted to function either in paternity guarding or as signals of commitment to the pair bond, reciprocally reducing extra pair mating in both sexes. In this study, we used four microsatellites to document paternity loss in the Crimson-breasted Shrike (Laniarius atrococcineus), a socially monogamous subtropical duetting species. Extra pair paternity was surprisingly high, with extra pair males siring 20 % of young in 30 % of broods. Furthermore, we compared the levels of extra pair paternity of each pair to certain characteristics of their duets to test the paternity guard and the commitment hypotheses. Our results offered no support that duets function in paternity guarding, although the fact that males which had been cuckolded answered more of their female’s calls could represent an adaptation to avoid future cuckoldry. We also found no evidence for duets functioning as signal of commitment. Female vocal behaviour was in fact the reverse of that predicted: Levels of infidelity amongst social females were positively related to female answer rate of their mates’ songs. These results indicate that females may use increased answer rates as a form of manipulation, in an attempt to avoid potential costs associated with their extra pair matings.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Tim Clutton-Brock, Prof. Marta Manser and the Kuruman Reserve Trust for access to the study site. Michiel Jooste, Thomas Klinner and Benjamin Gnep assisted with field observations. Thomas W.P. Friedl and Elisabeth Groscurth kindly helped with laboratory techniques. We are very grateful to Tristan Marshall for his advice and guidance through the CERVUS programme and for allowing us to use the trial version 3.0.5. Two anonymous reviewers significantly improved the quality of the manuscript. IMvdH was supported by a grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD). All research was conducted with the permission from the Northern Cape Conservation Authority after the approval by the ethical committee of Stellenbosch University.

Ethical standards

This research complies with the current laws of South Africa and was conducted with permission from the Northern Cape provincial conservation authorities (Fauna 1265/2008, 020/2010, 109/2011) and with clearance from the ethical committee of Stellenbosch University (2008B01006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Biology & Environmental Science, University of Oldenburg, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany

    Irene M. van den Heuvel & Georg M. Klump

  2. Research Center Neurosensory Science, University of Oldenburg, 26111, Oldenburg, Germany

    Irene M. van den Heuvel & Georg M. Klump

  3. Department of Botany and Zoology, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa

    Irene M. van den Heuvel & Michael I. Cherry

  4. DST Centre of Excellence at the Fitzpatrick Institute of African ornithology, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Michael I. Cherry

Authors
  1. Irene M. van den Heuvel
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  2. Michael I. Cherry
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  3. Georg M. Klump
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Correspondence to Michael I. Cherry.

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Communicated by H. Brumm

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van den Heuvel, I.M., Cherry, M.I. & Klump, G.M. Crimson-breasted Shrike females with extra pair offspring contributed more to duets. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 68, 1245–1252 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1735-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1735-6

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