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Territory defence in tropical birds: are females as aggressive as males?

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Abstract

Much of our knowledge concerning the functions of territorial behaviour and how territories are defended by individuals comes from research on birds. The vast majority of this work has focused on temperate zone breeding territoriality in which territories are defended most obviously by males. Our understanding of the female role in territory defence is limited because they are less conspicuous and much harder to observe. We studied sex roles in territory maintenance and defence in a duetting, resident neotropical passerine, the white-bellied antbird (Myrmeciza longipes). This species maintains territories and pair bonds year round and both sexes sing and actively participate in territory defence. We performed a series of playback experiments throughout the dry (non-breeding) and wet (breeding) seasons. We exposed territorial pairs to three types of stimuli including: (1) single sex, male only songs, (2) single sex, female only songs, and (3) both sex songs/duets. Contrary to findings for most other tropical species, individuals defended their territories with equal levels of aggression regardless of stimuli. Furthermore, sex roles were very different, with males responding more aggressively than females to all stimuli throughout both seasons. Both males and females consistently responded more aggressively to territorial intrusions during the dry season than during the wet season, likely because food abundance is low in the dry season and territory value is high. Our analysis of duetting behaviour suggests that duets do not serve a significant role in mate guarding, or territory defence.

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Acknowledgements

Earlier versions of the manuscript were improved by valuable comments from Eugene Morton, Laurene Ratcliffe and two anonymous reviewers. We thank the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute for logistical support in Panama. Rachel Houlihan provided field assistance and Michael Friendly assisted with statistical analysis. We also thank Stan and Pat Rand for providing transportation throughout much of the project. B.C.F. was supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Scholarship and York University Graduate Studies Scholarships. Research was supported by York University Graduate Studies and Sigma Xi grants to B.C.F., NSERC grant to B.J.M.S., and a Smithsonian Scholarly Studies Grant to E.S. Morton. Research was conducted under permits issued by the Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, York University, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, Ontario, M3J 1P3, Canada

    Bradley C. Fedy

  2. Present address: Centre for Applied Conservation Research, University of British Columbia, 3rd Floor Forest Sciences Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Bridget J. M. Stutchbury

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  1. Bradley C. Fedy
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  2. Bridget J. M. Stutchbury
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Correspondence to Bradley C. Fedy.

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Communicated by A. Cockburn

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Fedy, B.C., Stutchbury, B.J.M. Territory defence in tropical birds: are females as aggressive as males?. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 58, 414–422 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-005-0928-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-005-0928-4

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