Sex‐Biased Dispersal: A Result of a Sex Difference in Breeding Site Availability

Sex‐biased dispersal is often explained by assuming that the resource‐defending sex pays greater costs of moving from a familiar area. We hypothesize that sex‐biased dispersal may also be caused by a sex bias in breeding site availability. In avian resource‐defense mating systems, site availability...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American naturalist 2008-06, Vol.171 (6), p.844-850
Main Authors: Arlt, Debora, Pärt, Tomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal behavior
Animal reproduction
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Aviculture
Biological and medical sciences
Birds
Breeding
Breeding sites
Dispersal
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Female
Female animals
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender bias
General aspects
Habitats
Male
Male animals
Mating behavior
Mating systems
Ornithology
Passeriformes - physiology
Sex Characteristics
Sex linked differences
Territoriality
Territories
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Summary:Sex‐biased dispersal is often explained by assuming that the resource‐defending sex pays greater costs of moving from a familiar area. We hypothesize that sex‐biased dispersal may also be caused by a sex bias in breeding site availability. In avian resource‐defense mating systems, site availability is often more constrained for females: males can choose from all vacant sites, whereas females are restricted to sites defended by males. Using data on breeding dispersal of a migratory passerine, we show that average number of available breeding options and availability of the previous year’s territory was greater for males than females. The female bias in site unavailability may explain the female bias in probability of breeding dispersal because there was no sex bias in dispersal among birds with their previous year’s territory available. We suggest that sex biases in the availability of breeding options may be an important factor contributing to observed variation in sex‐biased dispersal patterns.
ISSN:0003-0147
1537-5323
DOI:10.1086/587521