10.7280/D1GD7F
Burley, Nancy
0000-0002-3051-7583
University of California, Irvine
Martin, John
University of California, Irvine
Data from: Elucidating mutual mate choice
Dryad
dataset
2021
Mate choice
Experiment design
audience effects
Zebra finch
University of California System
https://ror.org/00pjdza24
2021-07-27T00:00:00Z
2021-07-27T00:00:00Z
en
22238 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Understanding the dynamics of mutual mate choice requires investigation of
mate preferences of both sexes using a variety of designs, but fewer
studies have focused on male choice in avian models. Here we conducted two
experiments on preferences of male zebra finches to study the impact of
trial design on results. Experimental design varied in number of trial
participants, inclusion of observer (“audience”) males, and housing design
for stimulus females. Females were reared on one of two diets to enhance
variation in mating quality: those reared on a protein-supplement diet
(HI-diet) were predicted to be more attractive to males than (LO-diet)
females that did not receive supplements. Results differed among trial
types. Notably, males showed the predicted preference for HI-diet females
only in the Group Choice experiment, where two male subjects
simultaneously chose from a field of four females, and all six birds
interacted freely. In the Dyadic Preference (DP) experiment, a single male
was allowed to interact with two stimulus females that were physically
isolated; in half of these trials, audience males were present. In DP
trials without audience males, test males did not express a preference
consensus; however, with audience males present, test males preferred
LO-diet females. Results are consistent with a small but growing
literature indicating that results of mate choice experiments can be
highly sensitive to design considerations.
Data were collected in the course of laboratory experiments, archived by
the first author, and statistically analyzed by both authors. Analyses
were performed in STATA 15.0.
Variable labels are presented for each Excell sheet tab representing a set
of analyses reported in the paper. There are a few missing data points for
phenotype data. Group Choice Female Perspective (Table 2, Figure 2) Diet :
1= LO diet; 2 = HI diet ID = female ID code Proppref = proportion of her
trials in which female was chosen as mate Mass (measured in grams) HW =
headwidth (mm) TSNO = number of tail stripe feathers TranTSNO = TSNO2
Beakscore = beak color (Munsell Book of Color) Tranbeak = 1/beakscore2 Age
= female’s age at the time of her first trial Group Choice Male
Perspective (Figure 3) ID = male ID code Propprefhi = proportion of trials
in which male chose a HI-diet female Mass (measured in grams) HW =
headwidth (mm) TSNO = number of tail stripe feathers Beakscore = beak
color (Munsell Book of Color) Age = male’s age at the time of his first
trial Fecundity trials (Table 3, Figure 4) Diet: 1= LO diet; 2 = HI diet
ID = female ID code B4eggmass = mean egg mass before LO-female diet switch
B4CS = mean clutch size before LO-female diet switch B4Fecundity =
B4eggmass x B4CS Aftereggmass = mean egg mass after LO-female diet switch
AfterCS = mean clutch size after LO-female diet switch AfterFecundity =
Aftereggmass x AfterCS Mass = mass when female assigned to fecundity trial
TSNO = Number of tail stripe featherss TranTSNO = TSNO2 HW = headwidth
(mm) Beakscore = beak color (Munsell Book of Color) Proppref = proportion
of trials in which female was chosen in Group Choice trials (not all
Fecundity females participated in those trials, as described in Methods)
Age = age at time of first “B4” clutch Female Competition (Table 4)
Diet: 1= LO diet; 2 = HI diet ID = female ID code Mass (measured in grams)
HW = headwidth (mm) TSNO = number of tail stripe feathers Beakscore = beak
color (Munsell Book of Color) Age = female’s age at the time she entered
Competition trial Behaviors (Before and After males were added to trial):
Ag = mean incidence of female initiating aggressive interactions with
other females TranAg = square root (Ag) Agby = mean incidence of female
being recipient of aggressive interactions from other females Tranagby =
square root (Agby) DP [Dyadic Preference] Female Phenotype (Text only)
Diet : 1= LO diet; 2 = HI diet ID = female ID code Mass (measured in
grams) HW = headwidth (mm) TranHW = 1/HW3 TSNO = number of tail stripe
feathers TranTSNO = TSNO2 Beakscore = beak color (Munsell Book of Color)
Tranbeak = Beakscore3 Age = female’s age at the time of her first trial
Propprefaudab = Mean proportion of social time with chooser males when
audience was absent Propprefaudpres = Mean proportion of social time with
chooser males when audience was present DP Female Affiliation (Table 5)
Diet : 1= LO diet; 2 = HI diet ID = female ID code Proptime = Proportion
of male’s social time a female received in a given trial Totaffbeh =
Number of Affiliative behaviors female had with male in a given trial
Trantotaffbeh = square root (Totaffbeh) DP Male Perspective (Influence
of Test Order/Audience Effect) – Figure 5 and Figure 6; Tables 6,7, 8 ID =
male ID Mass (measured in grams) HW = headwidth (mm) TSNO = number of tail
stripe feathers TranTSNO = TSNO2 Beakscore = beak color (Munsell Book of
Color) Testtype: 1 = audience males absent ; 2 = audience males present
Testorder: 1 = audience males absent; 2 = audience males present Sumtime =
total social time spent with stimulus females (minutes) Transumtime
= sumtime12/(1023) Propprefhi = proportion of social time spent with
HI-diet females