ArticleScientific reports2018
Spatial memory is as important as weapon and body size for territorial ownership in a lekking hummingbird.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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14 citing papers in PubMed, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Article
- Morphological Traits and Specialization of Neotropical Flower-hummingbird Networks.Zoological studies · 2025Article
- Annual changes ofiScience · 2023Article
- Foraging, Fear and Behavioral Variation in a Traplining Hummingbird.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Limbic progesterone receptors regulate spatial memory.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Sociality, ecology and developmental constraints predict variation in brain size across birds.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2023Article
- The evolution of sexually dimorphic traits in ecological gradients: an interplay between natural and sexual selection in hummingbirds.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2022Article
- A reference genome for the nectar-robbing Black-throated Flowerpiercer (Diglossa brunneiventris).G3 (Bethesda, Md.) · 2021Article
- Mechanoethology: The Physical Mechanisms of Behavior.Integrative and comparative biology · 2021Article
- Evolution of stress responses refine mechanisms of social rank.Neurobiology of stress · 2021Review
- Extreme Drought Affects Visitation and Seed Set in a Plant Species in the Central Chilean Andes Heavily Dependent on Hummingbird Pollination.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Social group signatures in hummingbird displays provide evidence of co-occurrence of vocal and visual learning.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Shifting Paradigms in the Mechanics of Nectar Extraction and Hummingbird Bill Morphology.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2019Article
- Heritability and correlations among learning and inhibitory control traits.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Advanced cognitive abilities have long been hypothesized to be important in mating. Yet, most work on sexual selection has focused on morphological traits and its relevance for cognitive evolution is poorly understood. We studied the spatial memory of lekking long-billed hermits (Phaethornis longirostris) and evaluated its role in lek territory ownership, the magnitude of its effect compared to phenotypic traits expected to influence sexual selection, and whether its variation is indicated in the structure of mating vocal signal. Spatial memory (the ability to recall the position of a rewarding feeder) was compared between "territorial" and "floater" males. Interestingly, although spatial memory and body size both positively affected the probability of lek territory ownership, our results suggest a stronger effect of spatial memory. Bill tip length (used as weapon in agonistic interactions) also showed a positive but smaller effect. Load lifting during vertical flight, a measure of physical performance relevant to agonistic interactions, had no effect on territory ownership. Finally, both body size and spatial memory were indicated in the structure of male song: body size negatively correlated with song lowest frequency, while spatial memory positively predicted song consistency. Together, our findings lend support for cognition as a sexual selection target.
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