Size-assortative mating in a long-lived monogamous seabird

Mate choice is a key process in animals to optimize the ftness benefts of reproduction, and it is generally guided by phenotypic features of potential partners that mirror reproductive abilities. Assortative mating occurs when there is within-pair selection for specifc functional traits that can confer ftness benefts. Assortative mating can be positive if mates are more similar, and negative if they are more dissimilar than expected by chance. Mate choice is particularly important in long-lived species with biparental care, such as procellariforms that form long term monogamous bonds. We assessed the mating strategy of a sexually dimorphic Mediterranean procellariform, the Scopoli’s Shearwater (Calonectris diomedea), by testing for assortative mating according to bill (in accordance with previous studies on a sister species) and tarsus size (proxy of body size). We found that shearwaters adopted a positive size-assortative mating by tarsus length, while mating for bill size was random. Moreover, tarsus length was positively correlated with the duration of incubation shifts, when individuals are fasting on eggs. The observed assortative mating could be the results of choice by similarity between individuals, likely because partners with similar relative size have similar tolerance to fasting. Alternatively, the observed pattern could be the product of mutual mate choice, with a selection for large size that could confer competitive abilities in nest selection, defense, foraging aggregations and fasting ability. While our data suggest strong assortative mating in the Scopoli’s Shearwater (R=0.4), we cannot fully disentangle the multiple processes at play acting on mate choice.

Keywords

Bill depth Calonectris diomedea Mate choice Reproductive behaviour Scopoli’s Shearwater Tarsus length

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.12/9693

Citation

Visalli, F., Chamberlain, D., De Pascalis, F., Morinay, J., Imperio, S., Cecere, J. G., Rubolini, D., Campioni, L., Catoni, C., Benvenuti, A., Maggini, I., Gaibani, G., Pellegrino, I., & Ilahiane, L. (2023). Size-assortative mating in a long-lived monogamous seabird. Journal of Ornithology, 164(3), 659–667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-023-02063-x