A sexual conflict in collared flycatchers, Ficedula albicollis: Early male moult reduces female fitness

Abstract

A sexual conflict over levels of parental care occurs in most animals with biparental care, and studies of sexual differences in levels of parental care have usually focused on its intra-annual fitness consequences. We investigated inter-annual fitness consequences of a sexual difference in timing of feather replacement (moult) in collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). In this study, males overlapped reproduction and moult more often than females, they also initiated their moult at an earlier stage of breeding than females. Females mated to males with a moult-breeding overlap had significantly lowered survival chances than females mated with males initiating moult after breeding. Furthermore, females mated with moulting males risked a lowered future fecundity in terms of a delayed start to breeding in the following season. However, early moulting males achieved a similar reproductive success as males initiating moult after breeding. Likewise, male survival probability to the following breeding season did not differ between early and late moulting individuals, nor was there any evidence that males gained or lost in future mating advantages by moulting early. These results show not only that a sexual conflict over timing of moult may operate, but also that it can impose severe fitness consequences, in terms of future reduced fecundity and survival probability, upon the 'losing' sex.