Beyond the pair bond: Extra‐pair paternity and quasi‐parasitism in a Blue‐footed Booby colony

2026/07/24 by Nancy C. Saavedra‐Sotelo, Zuleika Sánchez‐Ortega, Guillermo Fernández +1
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Avian ecology and behavior #Genetic diversity and population structure

paper · doi:10.1111/ibi.70102

Abstract

We examined the occurrence of extra‐pair paternity (EPP) in a breeding colony of the Blue‐footed Booby Sula nebouxii using genotypic data from 79 families (including 121 chicks). We identified EPP in 11 families (13.9%), with a total of 12 extra‐pair chicks (9.9%); moreover, four chicks (5.06%) from different nests were genetically related only to their putative fathers, suggesting quasi‐parasitism. We evaluated the effect of several ecological and social factors on EPP and found that it occurred throughout the breeding season and across the colony and was only related to hatching order (higher EPP in the first‐hatched chick). When compared with earlier research, the inconsistent patterns among colonies highlight the complexity of the ecological and social interactions underlying mating systems.

Citations

• Breeding synchrony in colonial birds: from local stress to global harmony
• Female red-winged blackbirds accrue material benefits from copulating with extra-pair males
• Direct Benefits and Genetic Costs of Extrapair Paternity for Female American Crows (<i>Corvus brachyrhynchos</i>)
• Adult Survival and Imperfect Assessment of Parentage: Effects on Male Parenting Decisions
• Extrapair behaviour reveals flexible female choosiness and mixed support for classic good genes in blue-footed boobies
• Colonial breeding reduces nest predation in the common gull (Larus canus)
• Extra‐pair paternity in the strongly monogamous Wandering Albatross<i>Diomedea exulans</i>has no apparent benefits for females
• Male phenotype, fertility, and the pursuit of extra-pair copulations by female birds
• Do males of the great grey shrike, Lanius excubitor, trade food for extrapair copulations?
• Habitat structure and colony structure constrain extrapair paternity in a colonial bird
• Better stay together: pair bond duration increases individual fitness independent of age-related variation
• Extra‐pair paternity, intraspecific brood parasitism, quasi‐parasitism and polygamy in the Red‐footed Falcon (<i>Falco vespertinus</i>)

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• Better stay together: pair bond duration increases individual fitness independent of age-related variation
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