Is male plumage reflectance correlated with paternal care in bluethroats?
Although it is now well established that the conspicuous male plumage colors of many birds have been subject to sexual selection by female choice, it is still debated whether females mate with colorful males to obtain direct or indirect benefits. In species where males provide substantial parental care, females may obtain direct benefits from mating with the males that are best at providing care. The good parent hypothesis suggests that male plumage coloration signals a male’s ability to provide parental care. Alternatively, the differential-allocation hypothesis suggests that colorful males reduce their care in response to increased investment by females mated to attractive males. We tested these hypotheses on the bluethroat (Luscinia s. svecica), a socially monogamous, sexually dichromatic bird, in which males have a colorful throat patch consisting of a structurally derived blue area surrounding a melanin-based chestnut spot. Male plumage coloration was objectively quantified by use
