Mating success and foraging costs of a LEKKING bird: integrating sexual selection and optimal foraging theories

• Grant number: 13/16674-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: March 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Marco Aurelio Pizo Ferreira
• Grantee: César Cestari
• Supervisor: Bette A. Loiselle
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Florida, Gainesville (UF), United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/20593-3 - Mating success and foraging costs of a Lekking bird: integrating sexual selection and optimal foraging theories, BP.PD

Abstract

Lek-mating systems, where males gather in space to display for females and females select mates and then solely care for their offspring, provide an ideal system for a novel integration of sexual selection and optimal foraging theory. Within these systems, the opportunities for strong sexual selection are possible because of strong variance in male reproductive success - few males actually mate with females. Studies have shown that lek attendance is a good correlate of male reproductive success, which means that there is potentially strong pressure to minimize time spent away from the leks conducting other activities, like foraging. The proposed study will test whether, with a minimum foraging effort, males have higher courtship (number of females visits) and mating (number of copulations) successes during the peak period of lek. To test it, we will use a combination of observations and experiments focusing on the White-bearded Manakin, Manacus manacus, in Atlantic forest of São Paulo State. This project will integrate sexual selection and optimal foraging theory to better understand the behavior of birds at leks and how such behavior impacts reproductive success and physiological condition of those birds. The proposed research initiates a new collaboration between labs at UNESP-Rio Claro and University of Florida that have complementary strengths in studies of sexual selection, fruit-foraging and energetics. (AU)