Abstract

Female mate choice is central to the theory of sexual selection¹, but much of the evidence for the basis of this choice is inconclusive^2–4. First, non-random mating may occur because of male-male competition³; and second, even if females can be shown to be choosing mates it is often difficult to tell exactly on what criteria they are choosing. Possible criteria include male genes^5–10, parental ability³ and quality of the resources held by males^11,12, but in the wild these factors are often interdependent³. Here we report a field experiment with pied flycatchers that eliminates the correlation between male characteristics and territory quality. We find that age, size, plumage colour and song repertoire of males are all uninfluential in female choice, and that territory quality is the single most important criterion.

Published in

Nature
1986, Volume: 323, number: 6084, pages: 152-153

UKÄ Subject classification

Ecology


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/323152a0

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/113660