Some birds mate for life, while others have many partners. Why? In this book, fourteen classic studies of bird behaviour are brought together to compare the different partnership patterns from ecological and evolutionary perspectives. Often there is a battle of the sexes, as individual birds behave in the way that serves their best interests. Introductory and concluding chapters review the latest thinking on this fascinating subject.
Readership: Students and researchers in behavioural ecology, evolutionary ecology, and animal behaviour. Professional ornithologists.
Edited by Jeffrey M. Black, Principal Research Officer, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
"This book will fill you in on the most up-to-date scientific findings about monogamy ... excellent for students of the natural sciences and a must for professionals in this field." - Friederike Woog, WWT Slimbridge, Bookshelf
"This book provides an impressive treatment, empirical and theoretical, of these and other issues related to avian monogramy. Fourteen fine chapters, based on long-term empirical studies of individual species in 12 different avian families, are sandwiched between opening and closing sections that deal with the theoretical issues related to monogramy." - J. David Ligon, University of New Mexico, Science, Vo. 276, April 1997
"This book is part of a series providing in-depth discussions of diverse topics in ornithology, ranging from general topics to species monographs ... a comprehensive review of avian monogamy." - Biological Abstracts, vol.49, issue 8
"the species chapters constitute a valuable reference source for all students of mating systems and the framing chapters a must for those who need to know the state of the art in avian divorce" - Staffan Bensch, Animal Behaviour, 54,6
"the editor brings together an impressive collection of theoretical and empirical studies that address the evolution of mate fidelity and divorce ... Partnerships in Birds provides a good review of our current ideas about why so many birds are monogamous in the face of such sexual promiscuity. I recommend it to anyone interested in the evolution of avian reproductive strategies." - James Briskie, Ibis 140
Initial Perspectives 1: Introduction: pair bonds and partnerships 2: The battle of the sexes and the origins of monogamy 3: The model family Continuous Partnerships 4: Long-term monogamy in a river specialist - the Blue Duck 5: Do Barnacle Geese benefit from life-long monogamy? 6: Mate fidelity in swans 7: Breeding partnrship in two New World jays 8: Partnerships in promiscuous Splendid Fairy-wrens Part-Time Partnerships 9: Divorce in the European Blackbird 10: Mate fidelity and divorce in ptarmigan 11: Causes and consequences of long-term partnerships in Cassin's Auklets 12: Monogamy in a long-lived seabird: the Short-tailed Shearwaters 13: Between and within-population variation in mate fidelity in the Great Tit 14: Monogamy in the Sparrowhawk 15: Mate fidelity in penguins 16: Causes and consequences of mate fidelity in Red-billed Gulls 17: Dispersal, demography, and the persistence of partnerships in Indigo Buntings Concluding Perspectives 18: Monogamy and sperm competition in birds 19: Mate fidelity and divorce in monogamous birds Author index Subject index
