{"id":5519,"date":"2013-10-02T13:57:09","date_gmt":"2013-10-02T17:57:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/?p=5519"},"modified":"2015-05-19T10:41:11","modified_gmt":"2015-05-19T14:41:11","slug":"infidelity-in-australian-bird-may-be-the-secret-keeping-a-species-together","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/infidelity-in-australian-bird-may-be-the-secret-keeping-a-species-together\/","title":{"rendered":"Infidelity in Australian Bird May Be the Secret Keeping a Species Together"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><div class=\"wp-block-group sidebar-alignright sidebar-space order-bottom\"><!--HubSpot Call-to-Action Code --><span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-a8fe3c9a-217b-40fd-b1ff-2bb76ebe2cf3\"><span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-a8fe3c9a-217b-40fd-b1ff-2bb76ebe2cf3\" id=\"hs-cta-a8fe3c9a-217b-40fd-b1ff-2bb76ebe2cf3\"><!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]--><a href=\"http:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/95627\/a8fe3c9a-217b-40fd-b1ff-2bb76ebe2cf3\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-a8fe3c9a-217b-40fd-b1ff-2bb76ebe2cf3\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/95627\/a8fe3c9a-217b-40fd-b1ff-2bb76ebe2cf3.png\"  alt=\"New self-paced course: Learn How to Identify Bird Songs, Click to Learn More\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a><\/span><script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> hbspt.cta.load(95627, 'a8fe3c9a-217b-40fd-b1ff-2bb76ebe2cf3', {}); <\/script><\/span><!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n<!--<span class=\"hs-cta-wrapper\" id=\"hs-cta-wrapper-394b2cc2-4447-4677-b18b-d2f2de5b57cd\">\r\n    <span class=\"hs-cta-node hs-cta-394b2cc2-4447-4677-b18b-d2f2de5b57cd\" id=\"hs-cta-394b2cc2-4447-4677-b18b-d2f2de5b57cd\">-->\r\n        <!--[if lte IE 8]><div id=\"hs-cta-ie-element\"><\/div><![endif]-->\r\n        <!--<a href=\"http:\/\/cta-redirect.hubspot.com\/cta\/redirect\/95627\/394b2cc2-4447-4677-b18b-d2f2de5b57cd\"  target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"hs-cta-img\" id=\"hs-cta-img-394b2cc2-4447-4677-b18b-d2f2de5b57cd\" style=\"border-width:0px;\" src=\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/95627\/394b2cc2-4447-4677-b18b-d2f2de5b57cd.png\"  alt=\"Join the Cornell Lab\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\r\n    <\/span>\r\n    <script charset=\"utf-8\" src=\"https:\/\/js.hscta.net\/cta\/current.js\"><\/script>\r\n    <script type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n        hbspt.cta.load(95627, '394b2cc2-4447-4677-b18b-d2f2de5b57cd', {});\r\n    <\/script>\r\n<\/span>-->\r\n<!-- end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code -->\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">A common, chickadee-sized Australian bird is one of the most prolific cheaters in the avian world\u2014and new research suggests that choices made by straying females may actually be keeping the species from diverging into two. The research, by Daniel Baldassarre and Michael Webster of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, appeared today in <a href=\"http:\/\/rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org\/content\/280\/1771\/20132175.abstract\"><em>Proceedings of the Royal Society B<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/fairywren_map_300_tarrant_laman.png\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"Map showing scarlet and orange variations of the Fairy Wren in Australia\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>The scarlet-backed form (left) and orange-backed form (right) overlap and interbreed in northeastern Australia. <em>Left map image by Tom Tarrant; right image by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timlaman.com\">Tim Laman.<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The researchers tested how female fairywrens responded to two different types of males\u2014a scarlet-backed form that occurs in northwestern Australia vs. a more flame-orange form in eastern Australia. The two forms were once geographically separated, but now occur together in northeastern Australia. The scarlet-backed form is steadily making inroads into the range of the orange-backed form, and the researchers wanted to learn why.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey had all the building blocks to get going on the classic speciation process,\u201d said Baldassarre, a Ph.D. student and lead author of the study. \u201cBut then they came back into contact too early, and they\u2019re still able to mate with each other. Interestingly, we found that happens only when they\u2019re deciding who to cheat with.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-small alignleft\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/RDFW-female.jpg\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>Female fairywrens chose redder-backed males when mating outside the pair bond. <em>Photo \u00a9 Tim Laman.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<p>Working in an area of Queensland where only orange-backed forms occur (see map), the researchers used nontoxic red markers to turn orange-backed males into scarlet-backed males. Then they watched as the birds paired off and nested.<\/p>\n<p>They found that females chose to form social bonds with orange-backed and scarlet-backed males equally. But regardless of which form the females paired with, they overwhelmingly chose scarlet-backed males to cheat with. DNA tests revealed that because of these dalliances, scarlet-backed males fathered more than double the number of young than orange-backed males. And that level of gene flow is more than enough to keep the two forms from continuing on the path to becoming different species, Baldassarre said.<\/p>\n<p>Many birds cheat on their mates, but fairywrens display some of the highest rates of extrapair paternity in the bird world. A typical three-egg clutch has about a 75 percent chance of containing eggs from at least two different fathers. In some cases, a female\u2019s social mate fathers no eggs in his nest at all (though he may have young in other nests). Males even perform special displays for new females\u2014carrying a bright-red flower petal in their bill\u2014that they don\u2019t do for their social mates.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n              <figure class=\"size-small alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/RDFW-inhand.jpg\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\"\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><figcaption>The researchers tested the preferences of females using nontoxic red markers to make some orange-backed males redder (as in the bird on the left). <em>Photo by Daniel Baldassarre.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n              <\/figure>\n            <\/div>\n<p>The finding points to the growing understanding that female animals, by choosing their mates, can exert a strong force on the evolution of a species. And in Red-backed Fairywrens, that force is strongest in extrapair matings. \u201cSome males will get 10 extrapair young and others will get zero, so the females\u2019 choices really matter there,\u201d Baldassarre said. \u201cBut they\u2019ll both probably have two within-pair young, so there\u2019s not as much at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>All that infidelity gives a female fairywren a second opportunity to make a choice, Baldassarre said. \u201cWith a social mate, a female is getting a territory and a mate that\u2019s going to preen her and help feed the babies. When she chooses an extrapair mate, she\u2019s going to see that guy for two seconds, get some genes from him, and that\u2019s it. So she chooses different qualities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The researchers chose southern Queensland as their study site to simulate the arrival of the scarlet-backed form in a new population as it spreads eastward. They have not yet been able to do the reverse experiment, looking at how orange-backed males might fare in a region dominated by the red-backed form.<\/p>\n<p>But results so far suggest that in situations where two closely related species appear to be diverging, a second look might be warranted. Even when birds behave socially as if they are reproductively isolated, there might be more going on than meets the eye. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of extrapair mating in birds,\u201d Baldassarre said, \u201cand that might be a hidden avenue that could work against the speciation process.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The study was funded in part by the National Science Foundation, Sigma Xi, and Cornell Deparment of Neurobiology and Behavior.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A common, chickadee-sized Australian bird is one of the most prolific cheaters in the avian world\u2014and new research suggests that choices made by straying females may actually be keeping the<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/infidelity-in-australian-bird-may-be-the-secret-keeping-a-species-together\/\" title=\"ReadInfidelity in Australian Bird May Be the Secret Keeping a Species Together\">&#8230; Read more 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