DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3xsj3txdr
title: Quantitative variables related to color, territory, behavior, and morphology for male lesser prairie-chickens used in discrete choice models in mate choice study

description: Sexual selection theory maintains that traits under selection honestly
 advertise qualities of signaling individuals and that only individuals in
 the best condition can survive while displaying maximally elaborated
 secondary sexual ornaments. Recent trends in mate choice studies have
 favored the consideration of the effects of multiple traits on mating
 success, including suites of traits transmitted in different sensory
 modalities. Sexual selection is expected to be especially strong in
 lek-mating species. The lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchus
 pallidicinctus) is a grouse species which breeds on leks. Males of this
 species perform audio and locomotor displays and exhibit two pairs of
 brightly colored ornaments. We performed an observational study of mate
 choice in spring 2016-2018 and noted 40 copulations on seven leks. We
 quantified behavioral, territorial, and morphological characteristics of
 males along with ornament color properties. We found that variables from
 all categories considered predicted female choice. Age had the strongest
 effect, with adult males experiencing higher female choice relative to
 yearlings. Allocation of aggressive behavior and comb color properties
 were also strongly correlated with female choice. Our results show that
 modulating behavior depending on whether females are present contributes
 to male mating success and highlight the importance of the size and color
 properties of secondary ornaments. Further research is required to
 determine how the variables most strongly associated with mate choice
 relate to one another and which aspects of individual quality, if any, are
 signaled by color ornaments. Future studies could also incorporate
 variables related to females to determine if selection on females occurs.
description: The data was collected in the field and is based on readings and
 measurements taken from wild Lesser Prairie-Chickens. The variables
 beginning with "pc" resulted from a principal components
 analysis of several behavioral variables. The raw values of the other
 variables were standardized (mean = 0,  SD=1). The
 columns beginning with "as" and "cmb" represent color
 readings from air sacs and combs respectively. The raw spectra obtained
 with spectrometry were processed using color space models in the R package
 <em>pavo</em>. Dist and mcp are spatial
 variables which were determined through the use of GIS software.
description: There are no missing values. The columns and
 abbreviations are as follows: individual - cases with a
 common number represent males which were available to be chosen by one
 copulating female male - the ID numbers of the males in
 question choice - which male with a common
 "individual" number was chosen by the female. Only one
 "yes" is possible for each set of individuals with a common
 individual number age - categorical. After second year
 (adult, ASY) or second year (yearling, SY) mass -
 originally measured in grams tarsus - tarsus length
 originally measured in mm tail - tail length originally
 measured in mm wing - wing length originally measured
 in mm comb - comb area - the product of comb height and
 comb width, originally measured in mm2 dist - distance
 to lek center. defined as the distance between the centroid of a
 male's territory and the centroid of the lek mcp -
 95% minimum convex polygon outlining a male's territory
 asht - air sac theta (non-UV hue) ashp - air
 sac phi (UV hue) asrach - air sac r-achieved
 (saturation) aslum - air sac luminance
 (brightness) the next four columns represent the same
 variables measured for combs pconea - first principal
 component (display behavior) with females absent pctwoa
 - second principal component (aggressive behavior) with females
 absent the next two columns represent PC's 1
 & 2 for females present