sexual selection

/sexual selection

Documenting display behavior of blue-backed manakins

By | November 12th, 2017|Amazon, birds, Ecuador, lek, manakins, sexual selection|

As part of her MS thesis, Ghislaine Cardenas, co-advised by C. Daniel Cadena (Univ. de los Andes) and Bette Loiselle (Univ. Florida), described the display behavior, vocalizations, and social organization of the blue-backed manakin (Chiroxiphia pareola napensis) in Amazon of Ecuador at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station.  Males of blue-backed manakins display cooperatively for females in [...]

Long-term study of manakins in its 17th year

By | January 1st, 2017|Amazon, birds, ecology, Ecuador, manakins, research, sexual selection|

We began this long-term project on birds, with a particular focus on manakins (Aves: Pipridae) in January of 2001.  The site - Tiputini Biodiversity Station in Yasuni Biosphere Reserve - is in western Amazonia and is arguably one of the most biodiverse-rich locations on the planet.  The field station is operated by the Universidad San Francisco [...]

Lower-ranking manakin males display more at larger leks

By | September 30th, 2016|Atlantic Forests, birds, Brazil, lek, Manakin, manakins, sexual selection|

Our paper on "Trade-offs in male display activity with lek size" is now published on PlosOne: Cestari, C., B. A. Loiselle, and M. A. Pizo. Trade-offs in male display activity with lek size. PloS ONE: 11(9): e0162943 Click here to see the publication. The field research was led by Cesar Cestari and involved simultaneous filming [...]