TY - JOUR
T1 - Teenage love
T2 - The importance of trial liaisons, subadult plumage and early pairing in barnacle geese
AU - Van Der Jeugd, Henk P.
AU - Blaakmeer, Karen B.
N1 - Funding Information:
improved the manuscript. Financial support was provided by The Swedish Natural Science Research Council and The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (grants to Kjell Larsson), Olle och Signhild Engkvist Stiftelser, The Royal Swedish Academy of Science and the Stiftelsen för Zoologisk Forskning. H.J. was supported by a grant from the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (STINT) while in Oxford.
PY - 2001
Y1 - 2001
N2 - In long-lived, socially monogamous species with biparental care, careful selection of a suitable breeding partner can be expected to enhance reproductive success. Both sexes are therefore expected to be choosy and to sample a number of potential mates before making a final choice. We investigated mate-sampling behaviour in 1-year-old barnacle geese, Branta leucopsis, upon their first return to the natal colony. Barnacle geese sampled mates by forming trial liaisons with a number of potential partners before final pair formation, at 2-3 years of age. Heavy 1-year-old females were more likely to engage in trial liaisons than other females. One-year-old males that engaged in trial liaisons, on the other hand, had more adult-like plumage, but did not differ in any other respect from 1-year-old males that were often alone. In addition, male trial partners of 1-year-old females were often older than 1 year. Differences in plumage characteristics between 1-year-old males reflected differences in social status. The observed patterns are suggestive of preferences for certain types of trial partners, where males and females differ in the characters they value most in a potential mate. However, intrasexual competition could also play a role. Birds benefited directly from engaging in trial liaisons at an early age because of reduced aggression from older birds when they were in the company of a trial partner. There were also long-term benefits of engaging in trial liaisons. Females that were often in the company of older trial partners enjoyed higher reproductive success later in life. This was not because they were larger and heavier than females that were mostly alone or with 1-year-old trial partners. Finally, both males and females that found their final partner early in life had a lower age at first reproduction.
AB - In long-lived, socially monogamous species with biparental care, careful selection of a suitable breeding partner can be expected to enhance reproductive success. Both sexes are therefore expected to be choosy and to sample a number of potential mates before making a final choice. We investigated mate-sampling behaviour in 1-year-old barnacle geese, Branta leucopsis, upon their first return to the natal colony. Barnacle geese sampled mates by forming trial liaisons with a number of potential partners before final pair formation, at 2-3 years of age. Heavy 1-year-old females were more likely to engage in trial liaisons than other females. One-year-old males that engaged in trial liaisons, on the other hand, had more adult-like plumage, but did not differ in any other respect from 1-year-old males that were often alone. In addition, male trial partners of 1-year-old females were often older than 1 year. Differences in plumage characteristics between 1-year-old males reflected differences in social status. The observed patterns are suggestive of preferences for certain types of trial partners, where males and females differ in the characters they value most in a potential mate. However, intrasexual competition could also play a role. Birds benefited directly from engaging in trial liaisons at an early age because of reduced aggression from older birds when they were in the company of a trial partner. There were also long-term benefits of engaging in trial liaisons. Females that were often in the company of older trial partners enjoyed higher reproductive success later in life. This was not because they were larger and heavier than females that were mostly alone or with 1-year-old trial partners. Finally, both males and females that found their final partner early in life had a lower age at first reproduction.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0035690074&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1006/anbe.2001.1857
DO - 10.1006/anbe.2001.1857
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0035690074
SN - 0003-3472
VL - 62
SP - 1075
EP - 1083
JO - Animal Behaviour
JF - Animal Behaviour
IS - 6
ER -