Effects of site fidelity and breeding performance on mate retention in a short-lived passerine, the Tree Swallow

PAULO E. LLAMBIAS; PETER WREGE; DAVID W. WINKLER

JOURNAL OF AVIAN BIOLOGY

Wiley-Blackwell

Lugar: Lund; Año: 2008 vol. 39 p. 493 - 499

0908-8857

We studied the relationship among re-mating, site fidelity and breeding performance in the tree swallow Tachycineta bicolor using 16 y of data on reproductive biology in a population breeding in nest boxes near Ithaca, New York. Of 217 pairs for which both members survived the non-breeding season, 76% mated with a new partner and 24% reunited with their previous mate. Pairs did not increase their breeding success by breeding together for more than one breeding season. Males produced fewer fledglings after breeding with a new partner, but females neither increased nor decreased their success when breeding with a new mate. Females who bred with a new partner were younger than females that reunited with their previous mates, and they were more likely to move to a different nest box. Males that bred with a new mate were of similar age to males that reunited, and they did not move more often. The probability of breeding with a newpartner was better predicted by female age than by previous breeding success, suggesting that re-mating was not strongly affected by past breeding performance. Because younger females change breeding sites more frequently than do older females and females that mated with a new partner were younger than females that reunited with their previous mates, we suggest that the tendency of tree swallows to change partners between years is a by-product of lower site fidelity ofyounger females rather than a strategy for increasing breeding success.