What does she see in him? Correlates of male mating success in a declining grassland bird. Jackie Augustine Assistant Professor Evolution Ecology and Organismal Biology The Ohio State University
Título: What does she see in him? Correlates of male mating success in a declining grassland bird
Ponente: Jackie Augustine, Assistant Professor, Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University
Resumen:
Lek mating systems are characterized by a high skew in male mating success. About 15% of males obtain 80% of mating opportunities, and half of males never attract a female. Given this strong selective pressure, researchers have been curious as to what traits make males successful, and why these traits are still variable among males. Over the past 10 years, I have been studying Greater Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido), a declining lek-mating grouse with complex mating behaviors. I combine observational and experimental approaches to determine which traits females use to select males, and which underlying physiological mechanisms influence the variation among males. Testosterone, genetic diversity, behavior, morphology, and territory attributes all contribute to male mating success, but in interesting and complex ways.
Dr. Jackie Augustine is an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University – Lima campus. As an avian behavioral ecologist, she is interested in how mating strategies maximize reproductive success. Her publications address topics as varied as how condition affects offspring sex ratio, female reproductive success, and how food resources affect reproduction. Besides studying prairie-chickens, she also has a long-term monitoring program of a small songbird. By placing nesting boxes in three habitats, she can observe how one species maximizes their reproductive success given different ecological resources. Since joining OSU-Lima in 2009, she has mentored 3 graduate and 11 undergraduate students through independent research projects and presentations, and has won OSU-Lima’s highest award for her efforts, the Faculty Award for Student Mentorship.
