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Cooperative courtship display in Long-tailed Manakins Chiroxiphia linearis: predictors of courtship success revealed through full characterization of display

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Abstract

The Pipridae comprise 52 species of manakins with a wide variety of courtship behaviours, ranging from solitary display, to traditional leks, to cooperative display. Long-tailed Manakins (Chiroxiphia linearis) exhibit an exploded lek-breeding system wherein two unrelated males cooperate to perform complex courtship displays for females. Our objectives in this study were to fully characterize the courtship display of Long-tailed Manakins, to evaluate the sequence and stereotypy of the display, and to investigate specific predictors of copulation success. Whereas the display of Long-tailed Manakins has traditionally been divided into two major parts, the hopping display and the butterfly display, we identified and characterized 16 individual display elements within these larger components of the display. We also determined that some aspects of the display are highly structured and stereotypical in performance, such that certain elements of the display are highly likely to be preceded or followed by particular elements. Nevertheless, other aspects of the display were much more flexible in terms of element sequence. We also found that the length and rate of performance of individual display elements were highly variable across displays. We therefore evaluated whether individual elements of the display could predict courtship success. Our results show that a number of highly correlated elements, namely upright postures, bounces, angel flights, and bows, can predict whether a display ends in copulation with a female. This research enhances our understanding of male display behaviour and female choice in Long-tailed Manakins, and may shed some light on the evolution of complex courtship displays in birds.

Zusammenfassung

Gemeinschaftliches Balzen bei Langschwanzpipras ( Chiroxiphia linearis ): eine vollständige Beschreibung des Balzverhaltens bietet Prädiktoren für ein erfolgreiches Werben

Die Familie der Pipras (oder auch Manakins) umfasst 52 Arten mit einem weiten Spektrum unterschiedlichen Balzverhaltens: es gibt einzeln balzende Tiere, Balz an bekannten Balzplätzen und auch gemeinschaftliches Balzverhalten. Die Langschwanzpipras (Chiroxiphia linearis) zeigen ein detailreiches Balz-und-Brut-System, in dem zwei nicht verwandte Männchen bei der Werbung um Weibchen zusammenarbeiten und dabei sehr komplexe Verhaltensweisen zeigen. Ziel unserer Untersuchung war es, das Balzverhalten der Langschwanzpipras komplett und im Detail zu erfassen und zu beschreiben, Wiederholungen und Stereotypen von Verhaltenselementen zu bewerten und zu untersuchen, ob es spezifische Prädiktoren für erfolgreiche Kopulationen gibt. Traditionell unterteilt man das Balzverhalten der Langschwanzpipras in zwei Hauptabschnitte: einen Hüpf- und einen Schmetterlings-Teil; wir identifizierten und beschreiben innerhalb dieser großen Verhaltenskomponenten 16 einzelne Verhaltenselemente und stellten darüber hinaus fest, dass einige Abschnitte dieser Verhaltensweisen hoch strukturiert sind, ständig wiederholt werden und mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit auf ganz bestimmte andere Verhaltenselemente folgen, bzw. dass sie ganz bestimmten Elemente vorangehen. Es gab andere, in ihren Reihenfolgen deutlich flexiblere Verhaltenselemente, und wir fanden weiterhin, dass Dauer und Häufigkeit einzelner Verhaltenselemente innerhalb des gesamten Balzverhaltens sehr variabel waren. Deshalb untersuchten wir, ob einzelne dieser Elemente einen Balzerfolg vorhersagen ließen. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine ganze Reihe miteinander hoch korrelierter Elemente - in erster Linie das Aufrichten, Hüpfen, Verbeugen und der „Engelflug“- Vorhersagen zulassen, ob die Balz zu einer Kopulation mit einem Weibchen führt. Diese Ergebnisse vertiefen unser Verständnis vom männlichen Imponierverhalten und der weiblichen Partnerwahl bei Langschwanzpipras und bringen vielleicht etwas mehr Licht in die Evolution des sehr komplexen Balzverhaltens von Vögeln.

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Acknowledgments

This project was funded by a Student Research Award from the Animal Behavior Society (to K.C.L.), a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Discovery Grant (to S.M.D.), and the University of Windsor. We would like to thank the park staff of the Área de Conservación Guanacaste (ACG) for logistical support, with special thanks to Roger Blanco. We are grateful to K.-A. Ward for assistance in the field, R. Verraich and S. Burton for assistance with video analyses, and P.-P. Bitton, K. Gammie, D. Mennill, Associate Editor L. Fusani, E. DuVal, and one anonymous reviewer for comments on the manuscript. The methods of data collection used in this study comply with the current laws of Costa Rica and Canada.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada

    K. C. Lukianchuk & S. M. Doucet

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  1. K. C. Lukianchuk
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Correspondence to K. C. Lukianchuk.

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Online Resource 1 Video of Long-tailed Manakin (Chiroxiphia linearis) courtship display, performed by two definitive males for a female. The video begins with dual hopping display, followed by dual and solo butterfly display performances, ending in copulation. The video comprises a single successful courtship display but the displaying males do not exhibit all 16 elements of the courtship. The video has been edited to remove long segments of repetitive display elements and therefore does not reflect the actual length of the display.

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Lukianchuk, K.C., Doucet, S.M. Cooperative courtship display in Long-tailed Manakins Chiroxiphia linearis: predictors of courtship success revealed through full characterization of display. J Ornithol 155, 729–743 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-014-1059-3

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