INTERSEXUAL SELECTION AND REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS IN THE
PHEASANT PHASIANUS COLCHICUS
TORBJÖRN VON SCHANTZ , MATS GRAHN , GÖRGEN GÖRANSSON
Department of Animal Ecology, Ecology Building, University of Lund, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden.
Molecular Population Biology, The Wallenberg Laboratory, University of Lund, PO Box 7031,
S-220 07 Lund, Sweden.
American Naturalist 144:510-527.
Abstract. -Recent sexual selection models predict that female choice in species without paternal care
functions to discriminate among males in order to pass "good genes" to offspring. Data quantifying the
relationship between female mate choice and reproductive success are scarce. In a Swedish population of
pheasants females prefer to mate with long-spurred males. Male viability also correlates with male spur
length. DNA-fingerprinting was used to measure individual pheasants' reproductive success in terms of both
hatchlings and surviving offspring. The data show that long-spurred males sired more hatchlings and
surviving offspring and that also the females' production of number of surviving offspring correlated with
their mate's spur length. The analyses also indicate that offspring of females who mated to long-spurred
males experienced an increased survival rate
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