Female Java sparrows prefer high exploratory males without assortative mating

Jiayu Wang; Daiping Wang; Qiuyang Chen; Juan Zhang; Paul Racey; Yiting Jiang; Dongmei Wan; Jiangxia Yin

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104671

Female Java sparrows prefer high exploratory males without assortative mating

Behav Processes. 2022 Aug:200:104671. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104671. Epub 2022 Jun 2.

Authors

Jiayu Wang¹, Daiping Wang², Qiuyang Chen¹, Juan Zhang¹, Paul Racey³, Yiting Jiang¹, Dongmei Wan¹, Jiangxia Yin⁴

Affiliations

¹ The key laboratory of Animal Resource and Epidemic Disease Prevention in Liaoning Province, School of Life Sciences, Liaoning University, Shenyang, China.
² Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany.
³ Centre for Ecology and Evolution, University of Exeter, Cornwall Campus, Penryn TR12 9EZ, UK.
⁴ The key laboratory of Animal Resource and Epidemic Disease Prevention in Liaoning Province, School of Life Sciences, Liaoning University, Shenyang, China. Electronic address: xia0615@126.com.

PMID: 35661792
DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2022.104671

Abstract

A major challenge in behavior and evolutionary ecology is to understand the evolution and maintenance of animal personality. Theory suggests that females can benefit by choosing a high-quality mate, but largely ignores the potential interaction between male and female personality during mate choice. Here, we examined the influence of exploration on mate choice by captive female Java sparrows (Lonchura oryzivora). Females preferred high exploratory males as mates rather than choosing mates according to their own exploration, and thus showed no assortative mating. Our results highlight the role of exploration of males in the mate preference of birds and suggest that mate compatibility plays minor role in the mate preference.

Keywords: Assortative mating; Lonchura oryzivora; Mate choice; Personality.

MeSH terms

Animals
Female
Male
Mating Preference, Animal*
Reproduction
Sparrows*