Marion Hall

Multiple mating in a lekking bird: why do peahens mate with more than one male and with the same male more than once?

SummaryApproximately 50% of marked peahens (Pavo cristatus) mate more than once with lek males. Some females mate with more than one male, others copulate repeatedly with the same male. The frequency of courtship also shows marked variation. Some females repeatedly engage males in courtship interactions after they have succesfully copulated with them. The likelihood of mating with more than one male increases if a female first mates with a non-preferred (unsuccessful male). There is a non-significant tendency for females to copulate with a more successful male when remating. Peahens may mate with a non-preferred male first if they do not encounter a successful male during their initial period of choice, perhaps because the most successful male on a lek was courting another female and/or was defended by another female. There are more aggressive interactions between females in front of preferred males. Preferred males receive more repetitive courtship behaviour and repeated matings. Dominant females are more likely to engage in repetitive courtship and matings. The number of times a female initiates courtship on any one day increases with the number of other females actively courting males at a lek site on that day. We suggest that there is competition amongst females for access to preferred males and that dominant females try to monopolise these males by repeatedly engaging them in courtship interactions. We discuss the implications of these observations for the idea that female may gain directly from mate choice in a species where males contribute nothing but gametes to their offspring.

Sound Signalling in Orthoptera

The sounds produced by orthopteran insects are very diverse. They are widely studied for the insight they give into acoustic behaviour and the biophysical aspects of sound production and hearing, as well as the transduction of sound to neural signals in the ear and the subsequent processing of information in the central nervous system. The study of sound signalling is a multidisciplinary area of research, with a strong physiological contribution. This review considers recent research in physiology and the links with related areas of acoustic work on the Orthoptera.

Mother-offspring association in red deer (Cervus elaphus L.) on rhum

Abstract The association between hinds and offspring less than two years old is described for various hind categories, divided according to sex of calf and reproductive status of mother. Female offspring are more frequently associated with their mothers than are male offspring. Hinds which do not breed again in the offsprings second year are more frequently associated with them than are hinds which do. Hinds which breed, but whose calves die, also associate more frequently with their preceding offspring than hinds whose calves survive, though not as highly as hinds which do not breed at all. There is a decrease in association between hinds and their male offspring during the rut. Possible causal and functional explanations for these differences are discussed.

Collecting Questionnaire and Interview Data: Evaluating Approaches to Developing Digital Literacy Skills

This case study describes a method of collecting data on students’ experiences of developing digital literacy (ICT) skills as part of their course at the UK’s Open University. An online reflective quiz was integrated into three health and social care modules, offering students the opportunity both to reflect on their experience of developing skills, and to give feedback to module authors. To make this quiz engaging and motivate students to complete it we used a variety of question types, including some that were interactive. We also used the quiz, very successfully, to invite students for interview. Recruiting interviewees can be a difficult process, especially with distance learners. Although there was no evidence of higher response rates, there are indications our data quality may be better than often achieved with standard questionnaires. Respondents value the reflective and interactive aspects of the quiz. Some question types, while improving the respondent experience, require extra work to extract data for analysis, but we suggest the effort is worthwhile in terms of the quality of data generated. Our method reaches all students on a module, not just a sample, and allows us to collect longitudinal data from repeated module presentations.