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An Experimental Analysis of Sex‐Specific Foraging in the Downy Woodpecker, Picoides Pubescens
Author(s) -
Peters Wm. David,
Grubb Thomas C.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.2307/1937498
Subject(s) - foraging , woodpecker , biology , ecology , zoology , habitat
We tested the alternative hypotheses that the different foraging niches of male and female Downy Woodpeckers (Picoides pubescens) (1) were determined primarily by genetic preference, or (2) were due to displacement of foraging behavior of one sex in the presence of the other. In one experimental woodlot where males had been removed, the remaining females became malelike in their foraging behavior. Specifically, females selected branch diameters, foraging heights, and substrate angles normally used only by males. In a second experimental woodlot where females were removed, males did not change their foraging behavior. Controls supported the conclusion that the change in foraging by females could only have been caused by the removal of males. These results support the hypothesis that sex—specific foraging niches in Downy Woodpeckers are caused by female avoidance of the foraging microhabitat of socially dominant males. Our results also refute the hypothesis that intersexual niche partitioning in the Downy Woodpecker occurs because each sex has a different foraging microhabitat that is genetically determined.