Abstract
Animals observing conspecifics during mate choice can gain additional information about potential mates. However, the presence of an observer, if detected by the observed individuals, can influence the nature of the behavior of the observed individuals, called audience effect. In zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata castanotis), domesticated males show an audience effect during mate choice. However, whether male and female descendants of the wild form show an audience effect during mate choice is unknown. Therefore, we conducted an experiment where male and female focal birds could choose between two distinctive phenotypes of the opposite sex, an artificially adorned stimulus bird with a red feather on the forehead and an unadorned stimulus bird, two times consecutively, once without an audience and once with an audience bird (same sex as test bird). Males showed an audience effect when an audience male was present and spent more time with adorned and less time with unadorned females compared to when there was no audience present. The change in time spent with the respective stimulus females was positively correlated with the time that the audience male spent in front of its cage close to the focal male. Females showed no change in mate choice when an audience female was present, but their motivation to associate with both stimulus males decreased. In a control for mate-choice consistency there was no audience in either test. Here, both focal females and focal males chose consistently without a change in choosing motivation. Our results showed that there is an audience effect on mate choice in zebra finches and that the response to a same-sex audience was sex-specific.
Highlights
Animals in a wide range of taxa are able to use public information to evaluate conspecifics [1,2,3]
The change in time spent with the respective stimulus females was positively correlated with the time that the audience male spent in front of its cage close to the focal male (Pearson correlation: r = 0.535, n = 15, p = 0.040; Fig 4A)
They did not direct more song at adorned than at unadorned females during both mate-choice tests (Wilcoxon matched-pairs tests: first test: Z = -0.120, p = 0.908; second test: Z = 0.647, p = 0.518). They directed song less often at both females during the second than during the first mate-choice test (Wilcoxon matched-pairs tests: adorned: Z = -2.198, p = 0.028; unadorned: Z = -2.414, p = 0.016). Audience males directed their song at focal males in four of the 15 tests, whereas focal males directed their song at audience males in only two tests
Summary
Animals in a wide range of taxa are able to use public information to evaluate conspecifics [1,2,3]. By observing a signaling interaction of conspecifics, an eavesdropper or bystander, that is neither recognized by the individuals it is observing nor taking part in the interaction, can gain information about these individuals (social eavesdropping). Eavesdropping occurs when information is transmitted from one individual (sender) to another (receiver) while one or more eavesdroppers/bystanders that were not addressed pick up the signal [4]. Eavesdropping females gain information on the relative quality of males at little cost and/or risk [12], as evaluating potential mates might, for instance, expose them to enhanced predation risk [13] or sexual harassment [14]. By observing the mate choice of another individual, the eavesdropper can gather even more information about potential mates. The eavesdropper may copy the observed decision for an individual mate or a mate of a specific phenotype, which is called mate-choice copying [15,16,17,18]
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