In a population of birds, males have long red tail feathers that they use in mating displays, and also sing in the mornings to attract females. You find that some males have more red feathers in their tails than others, while some sing for longer periods of time. In this bird species, a high proportion of eggs fail to hatch. You measure the number of eggs that successfully hatch that are fathered by each male bird, and find that the number of successful hatchlings is proportional to how long a male sings, but is unrelated to the amount of red in his tail. Question:
In a population of birds, males have long red tail feathers that they use in mating displays, and also sing in the mornings to attract females. You find that some males have more red feathers in their tails than others, while some sing for longer periods of time. In this bird species, a high proportion of eggs fail to hatch. You measure the number of eggs that successfully hatch that are fathered by each male bird, and find that the number of successful hatchlings is proportional to how long a male sings, but is unrelated to the amount of red in his tail.
Question:
Propose an explanation for why males evolved both to sing and to have red tails, and how females likely evolved in response to both traits.
[Note: avoid writing a paragraph for each sentence prompt; this should still be short, concise answers and Please write four sentences guided by the individual prompts]
Your answer:
Sentence 1: State which males and which females had the highest fitness.
Sentence 2: What feature most closely correlates with survivorship in offspring? What example in lecture also had a particular preference for this trait that also corresponded with increased offspring survivorship (species MATTERS, make sure you name the right species)
Sentences 3&4: What role could the red tail have played in this situation? How can it lead to affecting "female choice" and what could a weakly red vs brightly red color tell a female?
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