Experimental tail shortening affects feeding rate depending on original tail length in female barn swallows Hirundo rustica gutturalis

Long tail feathers of the barn swallow Hirundo rustica are a classic example of an intersexually selected trait, but previous aerodynamic analyses indicate that the tail feather is only 10–12 mm longer than the aerodynamic optimum even in the nominate subspecies with long tails. Here, by experimenta...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of ethology Vol. 38; no. 2; pp. 179 - 184
Main Authors Hasegawa, Masaru, Arai, Emi, Nakamura, Masahiko
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Tokyo Springer Japan 01.05.2020
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects
Aerodynamic properties
Animal behavior
Animal Ecology
Behavioral Sciences
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Evolutionary Biology
Feathers
Feeding
Females
Hirundo rustica gutturalis
Life Sciences
Nominations
Sexual selection
Zoology
Differential cost
Tail length
Female ornament
Hirundines
Manipulation experiment
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Summary:Long tail feathers of the barn swallow Hirundo rustica are a classic example of an intersexually selected trait, but previous aerodynamic analyses indicate that the tail feather is only 10–12 mm longer than the aerodynamic optimum even in the nominate subspecies with long tails. Here, by experimentally shortening female tail length, we studied the feeding cost of long tail feathers in Japanese barn swallows, Hirundo rustica gutturalis , which have ca. 10 mm shorter tails than the nominate subspecies. Female feeding rate was explained by the interaction between treatment and original female tail length: feeding rate decreased with decreasing original female tail length in control, but not in tail-shortened females. Because the interaction term was far from significant in the analysis of female incubation investment, the observed pattern would be specific to feeding rate, which is greatly affected by the aerodynamic properties associated with tail length. Differential allocation of paternal feeding investment was not observed in the current data set. Long tails would be costly at least in short-tailed females, supporting differential costs of ornamentation as predicted by sexual selection theory. Female outermost tail feathers are costly ornamentation in short-tailed Japanese barn swallows.
ISSN:0289-0771
1439-5444
DOI:10.1007/s10164-019-00637-y