Sex-specific fitness consequences of dispersal in Siberian jays |
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Authors: | Phillip Gienapp Juha Merilä |
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Institution: | (1) Ecological Genetics Research Unit Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, P. O. Box 65, 00014 Helsinki, Finland |
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Abstract: | In most birds, natal dispersal is female-biased, but the selective pressures leading to this pattern have rarely been explored
with comprehensive data on lifetime reproductive success. In territorial birds, the benefit of philopatry should be higher
for males than for females when males establish territories for which knowledge about the local environment is important.
As females may use male characteristics for mate choice, and hence indirectly for territory choice, the benefit from the direct
knowledge of the local environment may be lower for females than males. We tested this hypothesis using data from a long-term
study of group living corvids, the Siberian jays (Perisoreus infaustus). In this species, the socially dominant offspring delay dispersal while the sub-dominant offspring leave the family group
directly after reaching independence. Our results show that natal dispersal distance (a proxy for local knowledge) was related
to sex and dispersal timing (a proxy for “quality”): Females and early dispersers traveled further on average than males and
delayed dispersers. Furthermore, dispersal distance and timing were negatively related to the number of recruits produced
over an individual’s lifetime in males, but not in females. Hence, the results support the hypothesis that the female-biased
natal dispersal found in this and other bird species may come about through higher lifetime reproductive success of philopatric
males than females. |
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