Individual color variation and male quality in pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca): a role of ultraviolet reflectance
Bright coloration of males in many animal species has inspired researchers for more than a century. In this field study, we investigated whether color variation between individuals is related to individual quality in pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) males in terms of arrival time at the breeding sites. In addition to traditional visual color scoring, plumage […]
Acoustic cues to size and quality in the vocalizations of male North American bison, Bison bison
Source-filter theory provides a framework to interpret the acoustic structure of vertebrate vocalizations in relation to biophysical production, and it predicts that specific acoustic parameters can encode information about callers. Because formant frequencies are determined by vocal tract dimensions, with longer vocal tracts producing lower formants, they can be reliable indicators of body size, as […]
Male quality and conspecific scent preferences in the house finch, Carpodacus mexicanus
There is increasing evidence that birds use chemical cues in different contexts, and this is changing the traditional view that birds are the only largely olfaction-free vertebrates. We performed a choice experiment to examine whether male house finches exhibit any preferences for the sex of conspecifics when only their chemical cues are available. When exposed […]