Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32070248›Full record

ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2020

Winter associations predict social and extra-pair mating patterns in a wild songbird.

Kristina B Beck, Damien R Farine, Bart Kempenaers

Open access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
17citing papers in PubMed
12.2field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

17 citing papers in PubMed, 53 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. The costs of extra-pair behaviours in birds.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026
    Review
  2. Non-breeding social behaviour as an investment in reducing future territoriality costs.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2025
    Review
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Not so social in old age: demography as one driver of decreasing sociality.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Article
  6. The contribution of movement to social network structure and spreading dynamics under simple and complex transmission.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Extra-pair paternity explains cooperation in a bird species.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. The ontogeny of social networks in wild great tits (Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
    Article
  14. Opposite-sex associations are linked with annual fitness, but sociality is stable over lifetime.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
    Article
  15. Female blue tits sing frequently: a sex comparison of occurrence, context, and structure of song.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
    Article
  16. Social network position predicts male mating success in a small passerine.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
    Article
  17. Analysis of within-individual variation in extrapair paternity in blue tits (Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Kristina B BeckDepartment of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany.
Damien R FarineDepartment of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany.
Bart KempenaersDepartment of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology · DEUniversity of Konstanz · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Despite decades of research, our understanding of the underlying causes of within-population variation in patterns of extra-pair paternity (EPP) remains limited. Previous studies have shown that extra-pair mating decisions are linked to both individual traits and ecological factors. Here, we examine whether social associations among individuals prior to breeding also shape mating patterns, specifically the occurrence of EPP, in a small songbird, the blue tit. We test whether associations during the non-breeding period predict (1) future social pairs, (2) breeding proximity (i.e. the distance between breeding individuals) and (3) the likelihood that individuals have extra-pair young together. Individuals that were more strongly associated (those that foraged more often together) during winter tended to nest closer together. This, by itself, predicts EPP patterns, because most extra-pair sires are close neighbours. However, even after controlling for spatial effects, female-male dyads with stronger social associations prior to breeding were more likely to have extra-pair young. Our findings reveal a carry-over from social associations into future mating decisions. Quantifying the long-term social environment of individuals and studying its dynamics is a promising approach to enhance our understanding of the process of (extra-)pair formation.

Indexed as

Sexual Behavior, AnimalSongbirdsAnimalsBreedingFemaleMaleReproductionSeasonsCyanistes caeruleusextra-pair paternitymating systemneighbourhoodsocial environmentsocial network analysis

Identifiers

PMID32070248
PMCPMC7062020
OpenAlexW3008938401

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.