UMD Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/3

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a given thesis/dissertation in DRUM.

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Author: search.filters.author.Larned, Archer FreniSubject: search.filters.subject.Courtship

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    The effect of sunlight on decoration placement and mating success in male satin bowerbirds
    (2012) Larned, Archer Freni; Borgia, Gerald; Biology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Males of some bird species choose sunlit display sites to enhance their visual signal. Satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) males place colored decorations on their bower platform as part of their courtship display. Little is known about how illumination affects the attractiveness of decorations. We analyzed photographs to quantify the amount of direct illumination on the bower and the number of blue decorations in sunlight. We found that the proportion of sunlight on the entire bower platform during peak female visitation periods is correlated with male mating success. The North platform, where decorations are concentrated, was proportionately more illuminated than the South platform. Males placed decorations in more sunlit areas on the platform and returned moved blue decorations to their original locations, suggesting that males actively place blue decorations in sunlit areas. This is the first study to demonstrate that greater illumination in off-body displays may be important for attracting females.