AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF PATERNITY AND TAIL ORNAMENTATION IN THE BARN SWALLOW (HIRUNDO RUSTICA)

Previous studies of the socially monogamous barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) have shown that males that most frequently engage in extrapair copulations and whose partners are least involved in copulations with extrapair males are those with long tail ornaments. In this study, through the use of three highly polymorphic microsatellite markers, we analyze the relationships between length of tail ornaments of male barn swallows and proportion of nestlings fathered in own broods, number of offspring fathered in broods of other pairs, and total number of offspring fathered, using both a correlational and an experimental approach. Consistent with our predictions, we show that males with either naturally long or experimentally elongated tails have higher paternity (proportion of biological offspring in own broods), and they produce more biological offspring during the whole breeding season than males with naturally short or experimentally shortened tails. Males with naturally long tails also had more offspring in extrapair broods than short-tailed males, but the effect of tail manipulation on the number of offspring fathered in extrapair broods, although being in the predicted direction, was not statistically significant. Cuckolded males that did not fertilize extrapair females had smaller postmanipulation tail length than cuckolders. We conclude that there is a causal, positive relationship between male tail length and paternity. Since female barn swallows have extensive control over copulation partners and heritability of tail length is high, this study shows that female choice is a component of selection for larger male ornaments. Benefits from extrapair fertilizations to females may arise because they acquire “good” genes for sexual attractiveness or high viability for their offspring.