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Polymorphism, mating preferences and sexual selection in the Arctic skua

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 April 2001

R. A. Phillips
Affiliation:
Applied Ornithology Unit, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, U.K. Present address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, U.K.. E-mail: [email protected]
R. W. Furness
Affiliation:
Applied Ornithology Unit, Graham Kerr Building, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, U.K.
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Abstract

The intensive study of the Arctic skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) population on Fair Isle has provided an example of the maintenance of a stable polymorphism by sexual selection in conjunction with assortative mating (O'Donald, 1983). We tested several of O'Donald's hypotheses using data collected from the large colony of Arctic skuas on Foula. There was some evidence for assortative mating of the phenotypes but this did not confer any short-term fitness advantage. In contrast to the situation on Fair Isle, we found little indication that sexual selection took place for dark males since no differences in timing of breeding or productivity were evident between the two male phenotypes in new partnerships. Nor could we detect variation in adult body size, body condition, or any life-history characteristic between melanic and pale birds of either sex. Many of the selection pressures documented on Fair Isle appear to be absent at the neighbouring Foula, despite a fair degree of gene flow between these colonies. The frequency of pale adults on Foula and in Shetland as a whole has declined since the 1970s, indicating that currently directional selection may be favouring the melanic phenotypes at the southern end of the breeding range.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1998 The Zoological Society of London

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