干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

Male mate desertion may influence both the reproductive success of the current brood and the reproductive success of all broods produced in future. In this study I address the existence of male mate desertion in the Spanish Sparrow Passer hispaniolensis. The results strongly imply that male mate desertion occurs in the studied population. Two patterns of parental care were present in this population during the same breeding season (biparental care and/ female uniparental care). The estimated male desertion rate was 20.7% (n = 179) for the study period. The male mate desertion rate varied greatly between years ranging from 41.4% in 2000 to 5.9% in 2001. The different male mate desertion rates in the two adjacent colonies studied in 2002, and the decreased desertion rate at the end of breeding season in 2001 might result from changes in remating opportunities. The observed between-year difference in mate desertion rate might also be the result of the variation of some other constraining factor that alters the fitness pay-off of deserting (e. g. operational sex ratio, food availability or probability of brood survival).