Friday, October 12, 2012: 10:00 AM
Hall 4E/F (WSCC)
Female preference favors the evolution of elaborate male display traits in many species. However, little is known about whether this process of sexual selection also favors males with better courtship skills, such as the ability to respond to female signals. Here we used a robotic female to determine experimentally whether male Sage Grouse, Centrocercus urophasianus, adjust their display behavior in response to female signals and whether more responsive males are more successful in courtship.Our experiment involved two treatments in which the robot imitated natural female signals of interest or disinterest in courting males. In the interested treatment, the robot remained upright and looked side to side. In the disinterested treatment, the robot pecked at the ground as if foraging. We then compared the male display behavior before and during the experimental treatments.Key male display behaviors such as strut behavior, position of the fembot, and display rate were measured. We predict that if male courtship skills are favored by sexual selection, then males who adjust their behaviors more strongly in response to robotic female signals will be more successful in mating with real females.