Mate Choice Of Common Kestrel Based On Morphological And Behavioral Characteristics

Mate choice is a determinant of animal breeding fitness.Although it has been researched in numerous studies on passerines,the studies involved with mate choice on raptors are much less.From March to July of 2014 and 2015,the author studied the effects of morphological characters and behavioral characters on mate choice in Common Kestrel(Falco tinnunculus)at Zuojia Nature Reserve of Jilin Province and other two bases.The Common Kestrel nests were investigated at both nest-boxes and the nests of Magpie(picapica).Through fixed-point whole-day observation,feeding behavior of male,incubation behavior of female and the territory behavior of parents were recorded.All individuals were captured using the made automatic trap at the latter part of brooding period and their morphological indexes were measured.Principal component analysis(PCA),correlation analysis,regression analysis and independent T test were used for data analysis.Results showed that there were significantly positive correlationships between males and females among middle toe length,body mass,body structure and body condition,indicating that females might choose males based on the morphological characteristics.Females preferred to males with longer middle toe,bigger body mass,larger body structure and better body condition.However this was not consistent with the hypothesis that the smaller males were more popular in the reversed sexual size dimorphism(RSD,females larger than males)species.Feeding rate of male positively related to the body mass as well as body condition(P<0.05),which suggests that the heavier males and the males of higher body quality may be more capable of feeding;Male territory defense intensity was negatively related to male beak length(P< 0.01).Male territory defense intensity was also positively related to quantity of Magpie(P< 0.05),this may caused by intrusion of Magpie.Male feeding rate was positively related to female wing span(cm),body mass(g)and beak(mm),tail(mm),body length(cm),which suggests that mate of the females with bigger body structure characteristics was more capable of feeding.Male defense intensity was positively related to female body length but was negatively related to female middle toe length(P< 0.05),which suggests that mate of the females with smaller middle toe and longer body defended more intensively.There was significantly positive relationship between female incubation duration and female structure,suggesting that larger female had longer incubation time.There was significantly positive relationship between female defense intensity and female head length,which suggests that females with longer head showed more intensive territory defense.When difference of bodymass between the mates was bigger,female incubation time was longer.When differences of beak length between the mates was bigger,female territory defense was more intensive.In addition,we found polygamy phenomenon in Common kestrel.Male feeding rate in“monogamous” nest was significantly higher than that in the latter case of the two“polygamy” nests.Which supported that the male of polygamy may need to compromise for some parental care in the latter “polygamy” nest.The mechanisms of polygamy breeding behavior was unknown to us,.more studies are needed in the future.