Relative importance of multiple plumage ornaments as status signals in golden whistlers (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pachycephala pectoralis</Emphasis>) |
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Authors: | Wouter F D van Dongen Raoul A Mulder |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia;(2) Present address: Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad, Departamento de Ciencias Ecologicas, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile |
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Abstract: | Status signals are traits that advertise an individual’s competitive abilities to conspecifics during aggressive disputes.
Most studies of status signals in birds have focussed on melanin-based plumage signals, but recent research shows that carotenoid-based
signals may also play a role in aggressive signaling. We assessed the relative importance of melanin- and carotenoid-based
plumage patches as agonistic signals in a small passerine, the golden whistler (Pachycephala pectoralis). Display signals in male golden whistlers include an unpigmented white throat patch, a carotenoid-based yellow breast and
nape band, and a melanin-based black chin-stripe. We found that only the white throat patch was correlated with contest-related
attributes. Males possessing large throat patches defended larger territories and commenced breeding earlier. When caged males
with either experimentally reduced, or unmanipulated throat patches were presented to conspecifics, those with experimentally
reduced patches attracted less aggression from male subjects. Focal males also responded faster to caged males with throat
patches similar in size to their own, suggesting that they may assess relative throat patch size before engaging in aggressive
encounters. Females did not discriminate between “reduced” or “control” treatments. Our data strongly suggest that only the
unpigmented throat patch functions as a status signal. As this signal is unlikely to have significant development costs, honesty
may be maintained through social costs. |
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Keywords: | Golden whistlers Status signals Plumage coloration Social costs Simulated territory intrusions |
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