Social mating system, male parental care contribution and life history traits of a southern Sedge Wren (Cistothorus platensis platensis) population: a comparison with northern Sedge Wrens (Cistothorus platensis stellaris)

LLAMBÍAS, PAULO E.; FERNÁNDEZ, GUSTAVO J.; JEFFERIES, MARÍA M.; GARRIDO, PAULA S.

Journal of Ornithology

Springer

Año: 2017 vol. 159 p. 221 - 231

2193-7192

The study of geographic variation of socialmating systems can shed new light on our understanding ofhow ecological variables shape extant mating associations.We report data on the social mating system, parental careand life history traits of a temperate population of southernSedge Wrens (Cistothorus platensis platensis) in SouthAmerica. We compared our results with published recordsof two temperate populations of northern Sedge Wren(Cistothorus platensis stellaris) in North America. Thesouthern temperate population had a lower social polygynyrate, greater male contribution to feeding nestlings andsmaller clutch sizes than northern temperate populations. Asimilar pattern of low rates of social polygyny and smallerclutch sizes in the south versus moderate rates of socialpolygyny and bigger clutch sizes in the north has beenreported for the House Wren (Troglodytes aedon). Thissuggests that different selective forces may be operating innorthern and southern wren populations. Future work inadditional study populations is essential to establishing thegenerality of our results.