1995/01/01 by Ian P. F. Owens, Andrew Dixon, Terry Burke +1 · 3 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Environmental Science · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Plant and animal studies #Avian ecology and behavior
paper · doi:10.1093/beheco/6.1.14
openalex publication_date 1995/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
Sex role reversal in birds is usually associated with paternal care of both eggs and chicks. This pattern of care typically leads to the potential rate of reproduction of males being lower than that of females. Hence, operational sex-ratio theory predicts that each male should be under strong selection to avoid being cuckolded. A male should, therefore, guard his female partner(s) from extrapair copulation attempts by other males. Furthermore, the sexual conflict theory of copulation behavior predicts that in species with extensive paternal care the male should control the temporal pattern of copulations—copulations should occur both frequently and throughout the prelaying period. We tested these predictions in the Eurasian dotterel (Charadrius morinsllus), in which the male usually provides all the parental care. In accordance with the first prediction, male dotterels did “guard” their pair-female prior to egg-laying. Contrary to the second prediction, however, copulations were not frequent and did not occur throughout the pre-laying phase-despite frequent solicitation by the female, copulations only occurred immediately prior to egg-laying. Nevertheless, male-initiated courtship was both coincident with the pattern of copulations and more likely than female-initiated courtship to result in copulation. Our results do, therefore, appear to agree with the central prediction of the sexual conflict theory that males should control the pattern of copulations. We suggest that male dotterels will copulate only after several days of being paired because they face a duel risk of cuckoldry from both extrapair copulation and rapid mate switching. We tested the realized incidence of cuckoldry using DNA fingerprinting. Only 4.6% (2/44) of chicks were not the genetic offspring of the caring male corresponding to 9.1% (2/22) broods affected. The rate of extrapair paternity in the dotterel is, therefore, relatively low compared to that in many other avian species. We conclude that male dotterels successfully protect their paternity of the brood for which they care through a combined strategy of mate guarding and strategic timing of copulations.