Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Brood sex ratio and male UV ornamentation in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus): correlational evidence and an experimental test

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Sex-allocation theory predicts that females paired to attractive males should bias the brood sex ratio towards male offspring, as these would inherit the attractiveness of their father. We studied sex allocation based on male ornamentation in blue tits. Brood sex ratios varied with male UV coloration in an age-dependent manner. For juvenile males, the proportion of sons increased with increasing UV ornamentation, which is in agreement with previous findings from a Swedish population. However, the relationship between UV ornamentation and brood sex ratio was reversed for adult males, with females paired to less UV-ornamented adult males producing more sons. This pattern fits with the observation that, in our population, less UV-ornamented adult males sire the majority of extra-pair young. To test the causality of the association between brood sex ratio and male coloration, we experimentally manipulated crown colour largely within the natural range. We created two groups of males: one with higher and one with lower UV reflectance, UV(+) and UV(−), respectively. Contrary to our expectations, there was no significant treatment effect. However, in UV(−), but not UV(+) males, the proportion of sons was negatively correlated with male coloration before manipulation. This suggests that the UV(−) treatment caused males that were more UV ornamented to decline more in attractiveness, as shown in a similar experiment in Sweden. However, given that correlational patterns differ between these populations, similarities in experimental results should not be taken as evidence for consistent patterns of adaptive sex allocation in this species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alonso-Alvarez C, Doutrelant C, Sorci G (2004) Ultraviolet reflectance affects male–male interactions in the blue tit (Parus caeruleus ultramarinus). Behav Ecol 15:805–809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson M (1994) Sexual selection. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Andersson S, Amundsen T (1997) Ultraviolet colour vision and ornamentation in bluethroats. Proc R Soc Lond B 264:1587–1591

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andersson S, Örnborg J, Andersson M (1998) Ultraviolet sexual dimorphism and assortative mating in blue tits. Proc R Soc Lond B 265:445–450

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Badyaev AV, Qvärnstrom A (2002) Putting sexual traits into the context of an organism: a life-history perspective in studies of sexual selection. Auk 119:301–310

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballentine B, Hill GE (2003) Female mate choice in relation to structural plumage coloration in blue grosbeaks. Condor 105:593–598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bensch S (1999) Sex allocation in relation to parental quality. In: Adams NJ, Slotow RH (eds) Proceedings 22nd International Ornithological Congress. BirdLife South Africa, Durban, South Africa, pp 451–466

  • Cramp S, Perrins CM (1993) Blue tit. In: Cramp S, Perrins CM (eds) The birds of the western Palearctic, vol 7. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 225–248

    Google Scholar 

  • Delhey K, Kempenaers B (2006) Age differences in blue tit plumage colour: within-individual changes or colour-biased survival? J Avian Biol 37:339–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delhey K, Johnsen A, Peters A, Andersson S, Kempenaers B (2003) Paternity analysis reveals opposing selection pressures on crown coloration in the blue tit (Parus caeruleus). Proc R Soc Lond B 270:2057–2064

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dietrich-Bischoff V, Schmoll T, Winkel W, Krackow S, Lubjuhn T (2006) Extra-pair paternity, offspring mortality and offspring sex ratio in the socially monogamous coal tit (Parus ater). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 60:563–571

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dreiss A, Richard M, Moyen F, White J, Moller AP, Danchin E (2006) Sex ratio and male sexual characters in a population of blue tits, Parus caeruleus. Behav Ecol 17:13–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ewen JG, Cassey P, Møller AP (2004) Facultative primary sex ratio variation: a lack of evidence in birds? Proc R Soc Lond B 271:1277–1282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fridolfsson AK, Gyllensten UB, Jakobsson S (1997) Microsatellite markers for paternity testing in the willow warbler Phylloscopus trochilus: high frequency of extra-pair young in an island population. Hereditas 126:127–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith SC, Örnborg J, Russell AF, Andersson S, Sheldon BC (2003) Correlations between ultraviolet coloration, overwinter survival and offspring sex ratio in the blue tit. J Evol Biol 16:1045–1054

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Griffiths R, Double MC, Orr K, Dawson RJG (1998) A DNA test to sex most birds. Mol Ecol 7:1071–1075

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hadfield JD, Burgess MD, Lord A, Phillimore AB, Clegg SM, Owens IPF (2006) Direct versus indirect sexual selection: genetic basis of colour, size and recruitment in a wild bird. Proc Biol Sci 273:1347–1353

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hasselquist D, Kempenaers B (2002) Parental care and adaptive brood sex ratio manipulation in birds. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 357:363–372

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt S, Bennett ATD, Cuthill IC, Griffiths R (1998) Blue tits are ultraviolet tits. Proc R Soc Lond B 265:451–455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnsen A, Andersson S, Ornborg J, Lifjeld JT (1998) Ultraviolet plumage ornamentation affects social mate choice and sperm competition in bluethroats (Aves, Luscinia s. svecica): a field experiment. Proc R Soc Lond B 265:1313–1318

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnsen A, Delhey K, Andersson S, Kempenaers B (2003) Plumage colour in nestling blue tits: sexual dichromatism, condition dependence and genetic effects. Proc R Soc Lond B 270:1263–1270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnsen A, Delhey K, Schlicht E, Peters A, Kempenaers B (2005) Male sexual attractiveness and parental effort in blue tits: an experimental test of the differential allocation hypothesis. Anim Behav 70:877–888

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kempenaers B, Verheyen GR, Dhondt AA (1997) Extrapair paternity in the blue tit (Parus caeruleus): female choice, male characteristics, and offspring quality. Behav Ecol 8:481–492

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Komdeur J, Pen I (2002) Adaptive sex allocation in birds: the complexities of linking theory and practice. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 357:373–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Korsten P, Lessells CM, Mateman AC, van der Velde M, Komdeur J (2006) Primary sex ratio adjustment to experimentally reduced male UV attractiveness in blue tits. Behav Ecol 17:539–546

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krackow S (2002) Why parental sex ratio manipulation is rare in higher vertebrates. Ethology 108:1041–1056

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leech DI, Hartley IR, Stewart IRK, Griffith SC, Burke T (2001) No effect of parental quality or extrapair paternity on brood sex ratio in the blue tit (Parus caeruleus). Behav Ecol 12:674–680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Limbourg T, Mateman AC, Andersson S, Lessells CM (2004) Female blue tits adjust parental effort to manipulated male UV attractiveness. Proc R Soc Lond B 271:1903–1908

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neuhäuser M (2004) Tests for a biased sex ratio when the data are clustered. Environ Ecol Stat 11:295–304

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer AR (1999) Detecting publication bias in meta-analyses: a case study of fluctuating asymmetry and sexual selection. Am Nat 154:220–233

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peters A, Delhey K, Goymann W, Kempenaers B (2006) Age-dependent association between testosterone and crown UV coloration in male blue tits (Parus caeruleus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 59:666–673

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pike TW, Petrie M (2003) Potential mechanisms of avian sex manipulation. Biol Rev 78:553–574

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pryke SR, Andersson S, Lawes MJ, Piper SE (2002) Carotenoid status signaling in captive and wild red-collared widowbirds: independent effects of badge size and color. Behav Ecol 13:622–631

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosivall B, Török J, Hasselquist D, Bensch S (2004) Brood sex ratio adjustment in collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis): results differ between populations. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 56:346–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon BC, Andersson S, Griffith SC, Örnborg J, Sendecka J (1999) Ultraviolet colour variation influences blue tit sex ratios. Nature 402:874–877

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Siefferman L, Hill GE (2005) UV-blue structural coloration and competition for nestboxes in male eastern bluebirds. Anim Behav 69:67–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Svensson L (1992) Identification guide to European passerines. Lars Svensson, Stockholm

    Google Scholar 

  • Svensson E, Nilsson JA (1996) Mate quality affects offspring sex ratio in blue tits. Proc R Soc Lond B 263:357–361

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trivers RL, Willard DE (1973) Natural selection of parental ability to vary sex-ratio of offspring. Science 179:90–92

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • West SA, Sheldon BC (2002) Constraints in the evolution of sex ratio adjustment. Science 295:1685–1688

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson K, Hardy ICW (2002) Statistical analysis of sex ratios: an introduction. In: Hardy ICW (ed) Sex ratios. Concepts and research methods. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 48–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Wingfield JC (1990) Interrelationships of androgens, aggression, and mating systems. In: Wada M, Ishii S, Scanes CG (eds) Endocrinology of birds: molecular to behavioral. Japanese Scientific Societies Press, Tokyo, pp 187–205

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

We are indebted to Agnes Tuerk, Emmi Schlicht, Karin Hieke, Kim Teltscher and Mihai Valcû for the help with fieldwork and to Sandra Grainer and Kim Teltscher for performing molecular sexing. We are grateful to Kathi Foerster, Alain Jacot and Mihai Valcû for the helpful discussions and to Kate Lessells for providing the GLIM macro for the randomization test. We thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor for several comments that improved the manuscript. We are also thankful to Raphael-Thomas Klumpp and Alfred Fojt from the Institute of Silviculture, Vienna, for providing access to their facilities in the study area and, finally, to Hans Winkler and Dustin Penn from the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Comparative Ethology, Vienna and to the Beranek family for generous logistic support. All research complied with the current laws in Austria. This study was supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (Fellowships to A.P. and A.J.) and the Max Planck Society.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, P.O. Box 1564, 82305, Starnberg, Germany

    Kaspar Delhey, Anne Peters, Arild Johnsen & Bart Kempenaers

  2. Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Vogelwarte Radolfzell, Schlossallee 2, 78315, Radolfzell, Germany

    Kaspar Delhey & Anne Peters

  3. Natural History Museum, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1172 Blindern, 0318, Oslo, Norway

    Arild Johnsen

Authors
  1. Kaspar Delhey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anne Peters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Arild Johnsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Bart Kempenaers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kaspar Delhey.

Additional information

Communicated by M. Leonard

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Delhey, K., Peters, A., Johnsen, A. et al. Brood sex ratio and male UV ornamentation in blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus): correlational evidence and an experimental test. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61, 853–862 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0314-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0314-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation