Offspring sex ratio skew in the sexually monomorphic house martin Delichon urbicum
2010
Zaśko-Zielińska, Monika | Dubiec, Anna | Zieliński, Piotr
Sex ratio at conception may be under selection pressure, given that male and female offspring differ in the cost of production or generate different fitness returns under specific conditions. We studied adjustments in the primary, secondary and tertiary sex ratio in house martin Delichon urbicum, which is a sexually monomorphic, socially monogamous, colonial bird. Males of this species engage in extra-pair copulations with heavy males acquiring the highest fertilization success. We analyzed variation in the sex ratio in relation to clutch size and parental characteristics including body condition, wing length, as well as length and pigmentation of the white rump patch during three breeding seasons. The only variable which significantly explained the variation in the sex ratio was wing length of the social father and mother. The proportion of sons among offspring was positively correlated to wing length of the social father and negatively correlated to mother wing length. Social father wing length positively correlated with mean brood body mass at fledging, which may suggest that females that mated with long-winged males produced sons, which acquired the highest total fertilization success. Consequently, our results indicate that house martin females may adaptively adjust offspring sex composition at egg laying in relation to the characteristics of their social mate.
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