Ardea
Official journal of the Netherlands Ornithologists' Union

login


[close window] [previous abstract] [next abstract]

van Rhijn J. (1985) A scenario for the evolution of social organization in Ruffs Philomachus pugnax and other Charadriform species. ARDEA 73 (1): 25-37
In order to explore the phylogenetical roots, the known facts and provisional deductions about the unique social system of the Ruff have been considered against a background of data on social systems within the subfamily Calidridinae, the family Scolopacidae, the suborder Scolopaci, and the order Charadriiformes. The Ruff's social system is characterized by lek behaviour, role differentiation between independent and satellite males, and possibly by a temporal and spatial segregation between copulation and fertilization. Such social system has never been described for related species. Only the property to display on leks has been demonstrated in a few of them. In fact the group of waders is marked by an enormous diversity of mating systems. I consider all these strategies to be derived from a system which was adapted to exploit compressed peaks in the availability of food for chicks. Likely candidates for such common ancestral system are male care systems and 'double clutch' strategies. It is argued that the Ruff's behavioural dimorphism among males might have been originated by disruptive selection in a double clutch system. Satellites are thought to be derived from males selected to care for offspring; independent males from those selected to compete for additional copulations.


[close window] [previous abstract] [next abstract]