Sexual selection affects climate adaptation in collared flycatchers

• The role of sexual selection in climate adaptation is debated. We tested whether sexual selection has the potential to speed up adaptation to thermal conditions in a natural population of collared flycatchers. Based on a three-year cross-fostering experiment, we found that the size of a sexually selected trait predicted offspring metabolic rate: male collared flycatchers with large forehead patches sired offspring with low metabolic rate regardless of the ambient temperature. Thus, there was a stable significant relationship between forehead patch size of genetic fathers and offspring metabolic rate. Nestlings with high metabolic rate experienced a survival advantage when growing under warm temperatures, while the opposite was true in cold environments. Our study shows that females can modulate their offspring’s physiology through mate choice, and that sexual selection can thus affect climate adaptation.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Evolutionsbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Evolutionary Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

sexual selection

climate adaptation

resting metabolic rate

Ficedula flycatcher

secondary sexual character

physiology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

ovr (ämneskategori)