Dearborn and Wiley 1993 Dearborn, D., and R. H. Wiley. 1993.
Prior residence has a gradual influence on dominance in white-throated sparrows.
To investigate the influence of prior residence on dominance in captive white-throated sparrows, Zonotrichia albicollis , we studied 28 groups of six birds each in outdoor aviaries during winter. In the initial groupings of unfamiliar birds, when only intrinsic features of individuals influenced dominance, only size as indicated by wing length correlated with dominance. The gradual increase in dominance of residents over newcomers suggests that prior residence is not used for conventional settlement of disputes. This influence of prior residence on dominance provides a mechanism for the tendency of white-throated sparrows in the field to dominate more opponents in the centres of their ranges than at the edges. Because dominance relationships between strangers in initial groupings in captivity develop in the absence of the natural contexts for these interactions, these studies reveal only intrinsic mechanisms of dominance and thus do not necessarily reveal the mechanisms by which interactions are settled in natural situations.