Physiological costs and age constraints of a sexual ornament: an experimental study in a wild bird McQueen, Alexandra, Delhey, K, Szecsenyi, B, Crino, A, Roast, MJ and Peters, A 2021, Physiological costs and age constraints of a sexual ornament: an experimental study in a wild bird, Behavioral ecology, vol. 32, no. 2, Mar/Apr, pp. 327-338, doi: 10.1093/beheco/araa143. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Physiological costs and age constraints of a sexual ornament: an experimental study in a wild bird Author(s) McQueen, Alexandra orcid.org/0000-0002-2375-963X Delhey, K Szecsenyi, B Crino, A Roast, MJ Peters, A Journal name Behavioral ecology Volume number 32 Issue number 2 Season Mar/Apr Start page 327 End page 338 Total pages 12 Publisher Oxford University Press Place of publication Oxford, Eng. Publication date 2021-03 ISSN 1045-2249 1465-7279 Keyword(s) Behavioral Sciences Biology condition dependence differential cost Ecology Environmental Sciences & Ecology honest signal immunocompetence index signal life history trade-off Life Sciences & Biomedicine Science & Technology Zoology Summary Sexual ornaments are often considered honest signals of quality because potential costs or constraints prevent their display by low-quality individuals. Testing for potential physiological costs of ornaments is difficult, as this requires experimentally forcing individuals to produce and display elaborate ornaments. We use this approach to test whether a sexually selected trait is physiologically costly to male superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus). Male fairy-wrens molt from brown to blue breeding plumage at different times of the year, and females strongly prefer the few males that are blue early, during winter. We used short-acting testosterone implants to stimulate males to produce “early-blue” plumage and assessed costs during and after molt using a panel of physiological indices. Testosterone-implanted, T-males molted in winter and produced blue plumage 6 weeks before control-implanted, C-males. T-males molted while in lower body condition, tended to have lower fat reserves, and were more likely to be parasitized by lice. However, we detected no negative effects on immune function, blood parasites, exposure to stressors, or survival. Juvenile males never naturally display early-blue plumage, but we found no evidence for increased costs paid by juvenile T-males. Instead, juvenile T-males molted later than adult T-males, suggesting that age presents an absolute constraint on ornament exaggeration that cannot be fully overcome by testosterone treatment. Together, these small costs and large, age-related constraints may enforce signal honesty, and explain female preference for early-blue males. Language eng DOI 10.1093/beheco/araa143 Indigenous content off Field of Research 0602 Ecology 0603 Evolutionary Biology 0608 Zoology HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30152159 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment School of Life and Environmental Sciences Related Links Link Description Connect to published version Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Mon, 07 Jun 2021, 08:25:02 EST Mon, 07 Jun 2021, 11:16:49 EST Tue, 08 Jun 2021, 05:01:57 EST Tue, 08 Jun 2021, 06:04:48 EST Wed, 16 Jun 2021, 12:31:34 EST Wed, 16 Jun 2021, 12:32:41 EST Wed, 16 Jun 2021, 15:19:09 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 0 times in TR Web of Science Cited 0 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 12 Abstract Views, 2 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Mon, 07 Jun 2021, 11:16:49 EST

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