University of Bath PHD Sexual size dimorphism in damselflies, dragonflies and birds: function and development Serrano Meneses, Martin Alejandro Award date: 2006 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 09. Oct. 2021 Sexual size dimorphism in damselflies, dragonflies and birds: function and development Martin Alejandro Serrano Meneses A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Biology and Biochemistry September 2006 COPYRIGHT Attention is drawn to the fact that copyright of this thesis rests with its author. This copy of the thesis has been supplied on condition that anyone who consults it is understood to recognise that its copyright rests with its author and that no quotation from the thesis and no information derived from it may be published without the prior consent of the author. This thesis may be made available for consultation within the University Library and may be photocopied or lent to other libraries for the purposes of consultation. 1 UMI Number: U217186 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U217186 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Summary Differences in size between the sexes are ubiquitous throughout plant and animal taxa. These differences in size (termed sexual size dimorphism, SSD) are often the most conspicuous differences between males and females, and are associated with nearly all aspects of animals' life-history. In this thesis I had two main objectives. First, using phylogenetic comparative methods, field observations and laboratory experiments, I explored three key functional hypotheses of SSD (sexual selection, fecundity selection and differential niche-utilisation) using odonates, seabirds and bustards as model organisms. My results are most consistent with sexual selection promoting changes in males toward small or large size, depending on the intensity of sexual selection and on the form of male-male competition. My second objective was to investigate how SSD develops during larval development and emergence to maturity in odonates. Therefore I first tested the influence of food supplementation during larval stages on adult body sizes in American Rubyspots. Supplementary feeding, however, influenced neither the size nor the SSD of emerged adults. Finally, I explored the development of SSD from last larval stage into adulthood using seven species of Odonata. I show that SSD in some species is already evident from the larval stage; nevertheless, as a general rule, the direction of adult SSD is not predictable from the SSD of larvae. 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Tamas Szekely for giving me the opportunity to work and study in his research group. Tamas’s passion for biology, ecology, evolution and birds do not know limits. I am also greatful to Tamas for allowing me to continue my research on dragonflies: my interest in the study of dragonflies was deeply rooted thanks to Alex Cordoba-Aguilar. To Alex I owe a huge debt of gratitude for his enthusiastic academic and moral support. Therefore, it is thanks to the close and unconditional supervision and friendship of Tamas and Alex that I come to conclude this thesis. I thank Robert Kelsh for his support during my first years as a PhD student at the University of Bath. I also extend my gratitude to Professor Stuart Reynolds and Professor Geoff Parker for accepting to examine my thesis. I would also like to thank my sponsors, CONACyT, Mexico (registro de beca 168893) and Mr. Raul Gonzalez Hernandezf. I thank my lab- mates and friends, Andras Kosztolanyi, Teije Lislevand, Peter Long, Rene van Dijk, Gabriel Garcia Pena, Clemens Kiipper, Akif Mehmet, Jorge A. Contreras Garduno, Jorge Canales Lazcano, Gavin Thomas and Jessica Pollitt, for their friendship and support throughout my postgraduate studies. Quiero tambien extender este agradecimiento a quienes, quizas mas que nadie, disfrutaron y sufrieron conmigo debido a mis ganas de hacer siempre algo mas grande y mejor: mi padre, Martin, quien siempre ha deseado lo mejor para mi y quien siempre ha tenido un consejo que dar cuando mi impulso ha flaqueado; mi madre, Rosenda, quien siempre me ha escuchado, apoyado y llorado conmigo en las horas mas tristes y felices; mi gran amigo y hermano, Jacobo, a quien nunca habre de dejar solo y para quien siempre he querido ser ejemplo; Gina, cuyo amor incondicional, compania y comprension han sido clave en mis propositos, logros y felicidad; al resto de mi familia (abuelos, tios, primos), por todos sus buenos deseos, por estar conmigo siempre y por compartir el camino conmigo, por todos los pequenos (grandes) detalles. A todos, gracias. 3 Contents Sexual size dimorphism in damselflies, dragonflies and birds: function and development ...............................................................................................1 Summary.................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ 3 Contents .........................................................................................................................4 Chapter 1.Sexual size dimorphism in damselflies, dragonflies and birds: function and development....................................................................................................................5 Chapter 2.Sexual size dimorphism in the American Rubyspot: male body size predicts male competition and mating success........................................................................... 40 Chapter 3. The effect of larval diet on adult sexual differences in size and fat reserves in a tropical territorial damselfly......................................................................................72 Chapter 4. The development of sexual differences in body size in Odonata................ 92 Chapter 5.Sexual selection, sexual size dimorphism and Rensch’s rule in Odonata...................................................................................................................... 109 Chapter 6.Sexual size dimorphism in seabirds: sexual selection, fecundity selection and differential niche-utilisation........................................................................................141 Chapter 7. The influence of sexual selection and male agility on sexual size dimorphism in bustards (Otididae)................................................................................................. 152 Appendix. Sexual selection as the possible underlying force in Calopterygid wing pigmentation: comparative evidence with Hetaerina and Calopteryx genera ..............159 4 Chapter 1. Sexual size dimorphism in damselflies, dragonflies and birds: function and development M. Alejandro Serrano-Meneses 1. INTRODUCTION A common observation in many animal species is that males and females exhibit differences in their body sizes. Some of the sexual differences in size (sexual size dimorphism; SSD) are dramatic, for example male Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris) can be up to five times heavier than females (Andersson 1994), whereas Blanket Octopus (Tremoctopus violaceus) females can be up to 40,000 times heavier than males (Norman et al. 2002). This extraordinary variation in SSD has attracted the attention of biologists, and inspired several hypotheses to explain the variation in size across animal species ever since Darwin's (1871) seminal exposure of SSD (reviewed by Jehl & Murray 1986; Hedrick & Temeles 1989; Shine 1989; Andersson 1994; Blanckenhom 2005). To date, Darwin’s (1871) original ideas on the evolution of SSD form the foundation of modem research on SSD. Nevertheless, the explanatory power of these ideas in a particular species or across a range of organisms has remained controversial (Blanckenhom 2005). Body size is usually correlated with a number of physiological, fitness traits and mating advantages (Fairbaim et al. 2005). Males and females are genetically nearly identical, yet, they