Abstract
Mating tactics in species with facultative polygyny seem to be very flexible and to depend on local environmental conditions. We analysed the habitat and population contexts of territorial behaviour, associated with polygyny, in a population of Sedge Warblers Acrocephalus schoenobaenus inhabiting natural wetlands. Nearly one-third of all breeding males (46 individuals) resumed song after completing their mating with the first female, in order to attract another one. Resuming males were usually the earliest arrivals. There was a continuity in the territorial behaviour between resuming song on first territory and polyterritorial behaviour. Fifty-nine percent of resuming males set up second territories, clearly separated from the first. The second territory was usually located close to the primary female activity area. The quality of the first and second territories were correlated, with second territories being significantly inferior. However, their quality was not significantly different from the territories of non-breeding males. The quality of the second territories was also negatively related to the distance from the first territories. Polyterritorialism was influenced by population numbers: the higher the number of territorial males, the lower the number of second territories settled and the lower their average quality. Although the polygyny frequency in the studied population was very low, polyterritorial males were significantly more likely to be polygynous. We concluded that polygyny frequency can be significantly influenced by population numbers, which might be one of the main factors responsible for the variability in the mating system in this species.
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Acknowledgments
We are grateful to all those who took part in the field work, and in particular to Aleksandra Gondek, Wiesław Król, Bartek Pirga and Małgorzata Strzałka. Paweł Adamski, Mariusz Cichoń, Andrzej Dyrcz and Paweł Olejniczak provided invaluable comments. This study complies with the current laws of the Republic of Poland and has been funded by grants from the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research, no. 6P04F06412 and no. 6P04F02320.
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Communicated by F. Bairlein.
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Zając, T., Bielański, W. & Solarz, W. On the song resumption, polyterritorial behaviour and their population context in the Sedge Warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus . J Ornithol 149, 49–57 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-007-0211-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-007-0211-8