Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection

Charadrii (shorebirds, gulls, and alcids) have an unusual diversity in their sexual size dimorphism, ranging from monomorphism to either male-biased or female-biased dimorphism. We use comparative analyses to investigate whether this variation relates to sexual selection through competition for mate...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Székely, Tamás, Reynolds, J., Figuerola, Jordi
Format: article
Publication Date:2000
Country:España
Institution:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repository:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/44549
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/44549
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Charadrii
display behavior
niche division
Sexual selection
Size dimorphism
waders
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spelling Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selectionSzékely, TamásReynolds, J.Figuerola, JordiCharadriidisplay behaviorniche divisionSexual selectionSize dimorphismwadersCharadrii (shorebirds, gulls, and alcids) have an unusual diversity in their sexual size dimorphism, ranging from monomorphism to either male-biased or female-biased dimorphism. We use comparative analyses to investigate whether this variation relates to sexual selection through competition for mates or natural selection through different use of resources by males and females. As predicted by sexual selection theory, we found that in taxa with socially polygynous mating systems, males were relatively larger than females compared with less polygynous species. Fur- thermore, evolution toward socially polyandrous mating systems was correlated with decreases in relative male size. These patterns depend on the kinds of courtship displays performed by males. In taxa with acrobatic flight displays, males are relatively smaller than in taxa in which courtship involves simple flights or displays from the ground. This result remains significant when the relationship with mating system is controlled statistically, thereby explaining the enigma of why males are often smaller than females in socially monogamous species. We did not find evidence that evolutionary changes in sexual dimorphism relate to niche division on the breeding grounds. In particular, biparental species did not have greater dimorphism in bill lengths than uniparental species, contrary to the hypothesis that selection for ecological divergence on the breeding grounds has been important as a general explanation for patterns of bill dimorphism. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that sexual selection has had a major influence on sexual size dimorphism in Charadrii, whereas divergence in the use of feeding resources while breeding was not supported by our analyses.Peer reviewedSociety for the Study of EvolutionBlackwell Publishing201220122000info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501http://hdl.handle.net/10261/44549reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Ingléshttp://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2000.tb00572.x/pdfinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/445492026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection
title Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection
spellingShingle Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection
Székely, Tamás
Charadrii
display behavior
niche division
Sexual selection
Size dimorphism
waders
title_short Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection
title_full Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection
title_fullStr Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection
title_full_unstemmed Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection
title_sort Sexual size dimorphism in shorebirds, gulla and auks: the influence of sexual and natural selection
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Székely, Tamás
Reynolds, J.
Figuerola, Jordi
author Székely, Tamás
author_facet Székely, Tamás
Reynolds, J.
Figuerola, Jordi
author_role author
author2 Reynolds, J.
Figuerola, Jordi
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Charadrii
display behavior
niche division
Sexual selection
Size dimorphism
waders
topic Charadrii
display behavior
niche division
Sexual selection
Size dimorphism
waders
description Charadrii (shorebirds, gulls, and alcids) have an unusual diversity in their sexual size dimorphism, ranging from monomorphism to either male-biased or female-biased dimorphism. We use comparative analyses to investigate whether this variation relates to sexual selection through competition for mates or natural selection through different use of resources by males and females. As predicted by sexual selection theory, we found that in taxa with socially polygynous mating systems, males were relatively larger than females compared with less polygynous species. Fur- thermore, evolution toward socially polyandrous mating systems was correlated with decreases in relative male size. These patterns depend on the kinds of courtship displays performed by males. In taxa with acrobatic flight displays, males are relatively smaller than in taxa in which courtship involves simple flights or displays from the ground. This result remains significant when the relationship with mating system is controlled statistically, thereby explaining the enigma of why males are often smaller than females in socially monogamous species. We did not find evidence that evolutionary changes in sexual dimorphism relate to niche division on the breeding grounds. In particular, biparental species did not have greater dimorphism in bill lengths than uniparental species, contrary to the hypothesis that selection for ecological divergence on the breeding grounds has been important as a general explanation for patterns of bill dimorphism. Taken together, these results strongly suggest that sexual selection has had a major influence on sexual size dimorphism in Charadrii, whereas divergence in the use of feeding resources while breeding was not supported by our analyses.
publishDate 2000
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2000
2012
2012
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/44549
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/44549
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2000.tb00572.x/pdf
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Society for the Study of Evolution
Blackwell Publishing
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Society for the Study of Evolution
Blackwell Publishing
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15.811543

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