Meeting Abstract
Sexual signals are thought to convey information about an individual that others can use to assess his quality. Different signals convey different information, however; static signals likely reflect developmental conditions, whereas dynamic signals are thought to reflect current conditions. In zebra finches, male beak color and song repertoire size are used by females to select mates. We previously documented both short and long-term effects of early life immune challenge on beak color in zebra finches, in which birds exposed to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) had less red beaks than birds that were not exposed to KLH. We also found that the birds’ beaks became less red when challenged with KLH as adults. In this study, we examined aspects of song complexity in these same birds and found that birds exposed to KLH as nestling had more unique song elements and more song phrases than birds not exposed to KLH. Moreover, we found a negative correlation between the number of unique song elements and beak redness, as well as a negative correlation between the number of song phrases and beak redness. Haptoglobin levels were also negatively correlated with aspects of song complexity, suggesting a trade-off between song complexity and beak color that may be mediated by early life immune challenge.
