With or without you – pair fidelity and divorce in monogamous birds

Thesis

The drivers of fidelity and divorce of pair-bonded individuals, along with their fitness consequences, are of great interest as they influence mating systems, population structure and productivity, and gene flow. Socially monogamous birds offer an ideal opportunity to study divorce since they show great variability in the extent to which pair bonds are maintained. However, there has been little consensus as to whether divorce is a behavioural adaptation to improve a mating situation, or a ...

Expand abstract

Authors: Culina, A

• Publication date: 2014
• DOI: 10.5287/ora-pzx6bdn4x
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: Oxford University, UK
• Language: English
• Keywords: great tits; E-surge; evolutionary ecology; monogamy; behavioural ecology; pair fidelity; birds; swans; blue tits; divorce; multi-event modelling; meta-analysis; social networks; mating strategies; mating systems
• Subjects: Evolution (zoology); Ecology (zoology); Behaviour (zoology)