Influence of elevation on the sexual dimorphic gap in mountain white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha).
Abstract
This study examined sexual dimorphism and dichromatism in mountain white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha) and how it changes over an elevational gradient. Birds living in high elevation habitats are subject to harsh climatic conditions and a shorter breeding season, which affects how many MWCS can inhabit the area, how females select a mate, and how much energy for parental care is required for both males and females to acquire reproductive success. This increased parental effort requirement then has an impact on sexual selection pressures on males and on individual fitness. Mountain white-crowned sparrows were trapped with potter traps and mist nets at low (2962m) and high elevations (3240m) and measurements taken on wing, retrices, tarsus, and culmen length as well as crown stripe width and then compared between three pools of male and female pairs: 1) All birds caught during this study randomly paired from low elevation compared to high elevation, 2) Potentially breeding pairs caught in the same low elevation locations compared to high elevation, and 3) Confirmed nesting pairs compared between low and high elevation sites. Male morphological feature size was also compared across increasing elevation. No significant differences in dimorphism were found for the paired MWCS, but a negative correlation was detected in male crown ratio proportion (R2 = 0.04, P = 0.08). This trend suggests that sexual dichromatism in MWCS males inversely correlates with elevation based on reduced sexual selection pressures and increased parental care requirements at higher elevations
Local Knowledge Graph (10 entities)
Related Works
Items connected by shared entities, co-authorship, citations, or semantic similarity.
Are white-crowned sparrow badges reliable signals?
Climate change is affecting altitudinal migrants and hibernating species
Trap behavior of <i> Zonotrichia leucophrys oriantha </i> at different elevations in the West Elk Mountains, Colorado
Data from: Z chromosome divergence, polymorphism, and relative effective population size in a genus of lekking birds
Decomposing an elevational gradient in predation by insectivorous birds
Appendix C. Relationships between temperature and arrival of Broad-tailed Hummingbirds and flowering onset in its early-season nectar resources at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Colorado, USA.
Gunnison Sage-Grouse Conservation Priority Regions in the Gunnison Basin
Relationship Between Sudden Aspen Decline and Key Elk Habitat Features On the Uncompahgre Plateau- All Ownerships
Colorado?s Alpine Ecosystem Health ? A Case Study on San Juan, Sawatch, and West Elk Mountains
References (22)
2 in Knowledge Hub, 20 external