Advertisement

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

, Volume 7, Issue 4, pp 273–279 | Cite as

Age, coloration and dominance in nonbreeding hummingbirds: A test of the asymmetry hypothesis

  • Paul W. Ewald
  • Sievert Rohwer
Article

Summary

During the nonbreeding season, adult Anna and black-chinned hummingbirds (Calypte anna and Archilochus alexandri) have lower defense costs and more exclusive territories than juveniles. Adult C. anna are victorious over juveniles in aggressive encounters, and tend to monopolize the most temporally predictable resources.

Juveniles are more successful than adults at stealing food from territories (the primary alternative to territoriality), presumably because juveniles are less brightly colored. Juveniles have lighter wing disc loading than adults, and consequently should have lower rates of energy expenditure during flight. Reduced flight expenditures may be more important for juveniles because their foraging strategy requires large amounts of flight time. These results support the contention of the asymmetry hypothesis that dominance can result from a contested resource being more valuable to one contestant than to the other.

Among juveniles, defence costs are also negatively correlated with age and coloration; amount of conspicucus coloration is negatively correlated with the number of bill striations, an inverse measure of age.

Keywords

Energy Expenditure Flight Time Lower Defense Wing Disc Defence Cost 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Bent AC (1940) Life histories of North American cuckoos, goatsuckers, hummingbirds and their allies. Bull US Natl Mus 176:352–361Google Scholar
  2. Bruce RH (1941) An experimental analysis of social factors affecting the performance of white rats. J Comp Physiol 31:395–412Google Scholar
  3. Carpenter FL, MacMillen RE (1976) Energetic cost of feeding territories in an Hawaiian honeycreeper. Oecologia (Berl.) 26:213–223Google Scholar
  4. Colwell RK (1974) Predictability, constancy and contingency of periodic phenomena. Ecology 55:1148–1153Google Scholar
  5. Copenhaver C, Ewald PW (1980) Cost of territory establishment in hummingbirds. Oecologia (Berlin) 46:155–160Google Scholar
  6. Davies NB (1978) Territorial defence in the speckled wood butterfly (Pararge aegeria). Anim Behav 26:138–147Google Scholar
  7. Davies NB, Halliday TR (1978) Deep croaks and fighting assessment in toads Bufo bufo. Nature 274:683–685Google Scholar
  8. Epting RJ, Casey TM (1973) Power output and wing disc loading in hovering hummingbirds. Am Nat 107:761–765Google Scholar
  9. Ewald PW (to be published) Energetics of resource defense: an experimental approach. Proc 17th Int Ornithol CongrGoogle Scholar
  10. Ewald PW, Carpenter FL (1978) Territorial responses to energy maripulations in the Anna hummingbird. Oecologia (Berlin) 31:277–292Google Scholar
  11. Feinsinger P, Chaplin SB (1975) On the relation between wing disc loading and foraging strategy in hummingbirds. Am Nat 109:217–224Google Scholar
  12. Feinsinger P, Colwell RK (1978) Community organization among neotropical nectar-feeding birds. Am Zool 18:779–795Google Scholar
  13. Feinsinger P, Colwell RK, Terborgh J, Chaplin SB (1979) Elevation and the morphology, flight energetics, and foraging ecology of tropical hummingbirds. Am Nat 113:481–497Google Scholar
  14. Hazlett BA (1966) Factors affecting the aggressive behavior of the hermit crab (Clacinus tibice) Z Tierpsychol 23:655–671Google Scholar
  15. Kodric-Brown A, Brown JH (1978) Influence of economics, interspecific competition, and sexual dimorphism on territoriality of migrant rufous hummingbirds. Ecology 59:285–296Google Scholar
  16. Krebs JR (1971) Territoriality and breeding density in the great tit, Parus major L. Ecology 52:2–22Google Scholar
  17. Lewis DM (1972) The importance of face masks and sexual recognition and territorial behavior in yellowthroats. Jack-Pine Warbler 50:98–109Google Scholar
  18. Maynard Smith J, Parker GA (1976) The logic of asymmetric contests. Anim Behav 24:159–175Google Scholar
  19. Mayr F (1963) The role of ornithological research in biology. Proc 13th Int Ornithol Congr 1:27–38Google Scholar
  20. Montgomerie RD (1979) Energetics of foraging and competition in some Mexican hummingbirds. PhD thesis, McGill UniversityGoogle Scholar
  21. Nowlis V (1941) The relation of degree of hunger to competitive interaction in chimpanzees. J Comp Psychol 32:91–115Google Scholar
  22. Ortiz-Crespo FI (1972) A new method to separate immature and adult hummingbirds. Auk 89:851–857Google Scholar
  23. Parker GA (1974) Assessment strategy and the evolution of fighting behaviour. J Theor Biol 47:223–243Google Scholar
  24. Peek FW (1972) An experimental study on territorial function of vocal and visual display in the male red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus. Anim Behav 20:112–128Google Scholar
  25. Pitelka FA (1951) Ecologic overlap and interspecific strife in breeding populations of Anna and Allen hummingbirds. Ecology 32:641–661Google Scholar
  26. Popp JL, DeVore I (1978) Aggressive competition and social cominance theory In: Hamburg DA, McCown ER (eds) Perspectives in Human evolution, vol 5: The great apes. Bejamin/Cummings, Menlo Park, pp 317–338Google Scholar
  27. Siegel S (1956) Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences. McGraw-Hill, New YorkGoogle Scholar
  28. Smith DG (1972) The role of the epaulets in the red-winged black-bird (Agelaíus phoeniceus) social systems. Behaviour 41:251–268Google Scholar
  29. Stiles FG (1973) Food supply and the annual cycle of the Anna hummingbird. Univ Calif Publ Zool 97:1–109Google Scholar
  30. Stiles FG, Wolf LL (1974) Possible circannual molt rhythm in a tropical hummingbird. Am Nat 108:341–352Google Scholar
  31. Watson A (1967) Population control by territorial behaviour in red grouse. Nature 215:1274–1275Google Scholar
  32. Williamson FSL (1956) The molt and testis cycle of the Anna hummingbird. Condor 58:342–366Google Scholar
  33. Wilson EO (1975) Sociobiology, the new synthesis. Belknap/Harvard, CambridgeGoogle Scholar
  34. Wise LR, Zimmerman RR (1973) The effects of protein deprivation on dominance measured by shock avoidance competition and food competition. Behav Biol 9:317–329Google Scholar
  35. Wolf LL (1969) Female territoriality in a tropical hummingbird. Auk 86:490–504Google Scholar
  36. Wolf LL (1975) Female territoriality in the purple-throated carib. Auk 92:511–522Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 1980

Authors and Affiliations

  • Paul W. Ewald
    • 1
  • Sievert Rohwer
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Zoology and Washington State MuseumUniversity of WashingtonSeattleUSA

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options