Factors Affecting the Expression of the Dear Enemy Effect in Territorial Songbirds
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University of Windsor Scholarship at UWindsor Electronic Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Major Papers 2016 Factors Affecting The Expression of the Dear Enemy Effect in Territorial Songbirds Christopher Moser-Purdy University of Windsor Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd Recommended Citation Moser-Purdy, Christopher, "Factors Affecting The Expression of the Dear Enemy Effect in Territorial Songbirds" (2016). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5854. https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/etd/5854 This online database contains the full-text of PhD dissertations and Masters’ theses of University of Windsor students from 1954 forward. These documents are made available for personal study and research purposes only, in accordance with the Canadian Copyright Act and the Creative Commons license—CC BY-NC-ND (Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivative Works). Under this license, works must always be attributed to the copyright holder (original author), cannot be used for any commercial purposes, and may not be altered. Any other use would require the permission of the copyright holder. Students may inquire about withdrawing their dissertation and/or thesis from this database. For additional inquiries, please contact the repository administrator via email ([email protected]) or by telephone at 519-253-3000ext. 3208. FACTORS AFFECTING THE EXPRESSION OF THE DEAR ENEMY EFFECT IN TERRITORIAL SONGBIRDS by CHRISTOPHER MOSER-PURDY A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies through Biological Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science at the University of Windsor Windsor, Ontario, Canada 2016 © 2016 Christopher E. Moser-Purdy Factors Affecting the Expression of the Dear Enemy Effect in Territorial Songbirds by Christopher Moser-Purdy APPROVED BY: ______________________________________________ C. Semeniuk Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research ______________________________________________ O. Love Department of Biological Sciences ______________________________________________ D. Mennill, Advisor Department of Biological Sciences August 24th 2016 Declaration of Co-Authorship/Previous Publication I. Co-Authorship Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis incorporates material that is the result of joint research as follows: I am the sole author of chapters 1 and 5, and the principal author of Chapters 2, 3, and 4. Chapters 2, 3, and 4 were conducted under the supervision of Daniel Mennill who contributed input on the experimental design, analyses, and writing, as well as providing funding for the field research. Chapter 3 was also conducted with the help of Elizabeth MacDougall-Shackleton who contributed through assistance with field work and input on analyses and writing. Chapter 4 was conducted with the help of Scott MacDougall-Shackleton who contributed input on lab work, analyses, and writing; Frances Bonier who contributed input on experimental design, analyses, and writing; Andrea Boyer who assisted with lab work, analyses, and writing; and Brendan Graham, who contributed input with field work, and with experimental design, analyses, and writing. In all cases, the key ideas, primary contributions, experimental designs, data analysis and interpretation, were performed by myself, with input from my collaborators. I am aware of the University of Windsor Senate Policy on Authorship and I certify that I have properly acknowledged the contribution of other researchers to my thesis, and have obtained written permission from each of the co-authors to include the above materials in my thesis. I certify that, with the above qualification, this thesis, and the research to which it refers, is the product of my own work. iii II. Declaration of Previous Publication This thesis includes one original paper that has been published in a peer- reviewed journal, as follows: Thesis Chapter Publication title/full citation Publication Status Chapter 2 Moser-Purdy, C., & Mennill, D.J. (2016). Large Published: Animal vocal repertoires do not constrain the dear Behaviour, 118, enemy effect: a playback experiment and 55–64. comparative study of songbirds. Anim. Behav. ANBEH A16-00035R I certify that I hold copyright for the above material that has been submitted for publication. I certify that the above material describes work completed during my registration as graduate student at the University of Windsor. I declare that, to the best of my knowledge, my thesis does not infringe upon anyone’s copyright nor violate any proprietary rights and that any ideas, techniques, quotations, or any other material from the work of other people included in my thesis, published or otherwise, are fully acknowledged in accordance with the standard referencing practices. I declare that this is a true copy of my thesis, including any final revisions, as approved by my thesis committee and the Graduate Studies office, and that this thesis has not been submitted for a higher degree to any other University or Institution. iv Abstract Many territorial animals respond more intensely to strangers than neighbours. This phenomenon is known as “the dear enemy effect”. This phenomenon occurs because strangers represent a threat to territory takeover and parentage whereas neighbours only represent a threat to parentage. Many studies have investigated whether diverse animals exhibit the dear enemy effect, but few have examined the underlying factors that mediate this phenomenon. I tested whether three factors – male repertoire size, female fertility status, and male testosterone levels – influence the dear enemy effect in male songbirds. I found that repertoire size had no effect on dear enemy effect expression; that female fertility status influenced flexibility in dear enemy effect expression over a breeding season; and that testosterone does not seem to be associated with dear enemy effect expression. Overall these results show that several factors influence the dear enemy effect and that the dear enemy effect is a dynamic phenomenon. v Acknowledgments I would first like to thank my supervisor, Daniel Mennill, for his support and guidance throughout the duration of my graduate work. I feel very lucky that I was able to have three field seasons which would not have been possible without your support. Your expertise and enthusiasm made graduate school an incredible learning experience. I would also like to thank Paul Martin for your enthusiasm and guidance throughout my master’s degree, especially during the field season. Your knowledge and love of birds and nature inspired me to become a better biologist. I am also grateful to my collaborators, Fran Bonier, Beth MacDougall-Shackleton, and Scott MacDougall- Shackleton; without your help I would not have been able to conduct this research. I would like to thank my committee members, Oliver Love, and Christina Semeniuk, for your help in improving the quality of my thesis and providing helpful support. I am deeply thankful to the funding agencies that supported this research, through grants to my supervisor and collaborators. These agencies are thanked in each of the data chapters. I am grateful to the members of the Mennill lab for your continued assistance throughout my Master’s degree as well as for making my time in Windsor a great, fun experience. I am especially thankful to Brendan Graham for his advice and help on all aspects of my projects, including help in the field. I am also thankful to all of the vi graduate students in biology and GLIER for making my graduate school experience amazing. I would like to thank everyone at QUBS during the 2014, 2015, and 2016 field seasons. I thank Frank Phelan and Steve Lougheed for keeping a great biology station running. I would also like to thank Veronika and the kitchen staff for all the great meals and fun they provided over my tenure at QUBS. I am immensely grateful to Zachary Kahn, Steph Kim, and Tori Brown for the amazing experience we had together as a field team in 2014. I will never forget all the fun we had trudging through swamps. I am also especially thankful to Joshua Jones, Laura Schoenle-Thomas, and Haley Kenyon for being amazing friends and helping me with my research at QUBS. I am also thankful to Harley English-Dixon, Tosha Kelly, Leanne Grieves, Chloe Montreuil-Spencer, Joel Williams, and Andrea Boyer for help in the lab and in the field. Lastly, I would like to thank Ruffles for always keeping me on my toes and teaching me to never back down, and Songerto for teaching me that anything is possible. I would also like to thank my family, especially Cat Stevens. I am also thankful to my parents for all their support throughout these last two years. I would lastly like to thank my friends back home and abroad for being great friends and making trips back to Markham more fun than they should be. vii Table of Contents Declaration of Co-Authorship/Previous Publication ........................................................................ iii Abstract ............................................................................................................................................. v Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................................ vi List of Tables .................................................................................................................................... xi List of Figures .................................................................................................................................