Meeting Abstract
Males of many animal species have evolved elaborate morphological ornaments and behavioral displays to attract the opposite sex. Some courtship behaviors seem challenging to perform and thus may serve as a means by which females judge male quality. In particular, locomotor performance during display could be tied to aspects of survival and genetic quality that may be of interest to choosy females. Black-chinned Hummingbird (Archilochus alexandri) males perform a repetitive side-to-side aerial “shuttle” display for females during which wingbeat frequency is nearly doubled and acceleration can be high. We examined individual differences in shuttle-display and burst-flight performances to test the hypothesis that individual variation in burst-flight performance is correlated with variation in shuttle-display performance. A significant link between shuttle-display performance and burst-flight performance would support the hypothesis that the shuttle display functions to signal male quality.
