| Titre : | Why do Black Grouse males perform on lek sites outside the breeding season? |
| Auteurs : | P. T. Rintamaki, Auteur ; E. Karvonen, Auteur ; R. V. Alatalo, Auteur ; A. Lundberg, Auteur |
| Type de document : | Article |
| Dans : | Journal of Avian Biology (30(4) DEC 1999) |
| Article en page(s) : | 359-366 |
| Langues: | Anglais |
| Résumé : | Studies of sexual selection have focused mainly on explanations of how male characteristics influence mating success during the breeding season. By contrast, few studies have investigated how behaviours prior to the breeding season influence mate choice during the mating period. Males in many species of birds exhibit behaviours that resemble mating behaviours typically performed during the breeding season, even though environmental conditions are then not suitable for breeding. In one such species, the lekking Black Grouse Tetrao tetrix, both males and females visit leks regularly in autumn. Between 1988 and 1994 we studied autumn lekking and its relation to the performance of males and females in spring in a Black Grouse population in central Finland. We found that virtually all males. regardless of their previous copulation success, joined the lek in autumn, and that territory defence, in terms of fighting behaviour, was as intense in autumn as in spring. Furthermore; males that did not establish their territories until spring were less successful in obtaining copulations than males that established their territories in the previous autumn or earlier. In addition, males possessing central territories in autumn had higher copulation success in the following spring, probably because Females visited the same male territories in autumn and in the following spring. Our results suggest that males lek in autumn to increase. their copulation success in the following spring. Consequently, this behaviour may provide females with an opportunity to assess males prior to the breeding season. |
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