Tactical allocation of effort among multiple signals in sage grouse: an experiment with a robotic female

Abstract

Males in many species have complex, multicomponent sexual signals, and there may be trade-offs between different signal components. By adjusting their signaling behaviors, males may be able to produce more attractive courtship displays in the face of these trade-offs, but this possibility has rarely been tested. In this study, we examined adaptive adjustment of display behaviors during courtship in a lek-breeding bird, the greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus). We measured the potential trade-off between display quantity (display rate) and quality (a temporal feature of displays) in a wild population of sage grouse using controlled approaches of a robotic female to experimentally induce changes in male display rate. We found that males who are more successful in mating can increase quantity without a decline in quality, with only unsuccessful males expressing an apparent trade-off. Male mating success was also positively correlated with responsiveness to changes in receiver distance, suggesting that successful males may avoid a trade-off by tactically adjusting their display rate—saving energy by displaying at low levels when females are farther away and at higher levels as females approach. Alternative explanations for this differential response to female proximity are discussed. Our results suggest that to be successful, males may need both the ability to produce attractive signals and the ability to effectively allocate their display effort by responding to female behaviors.