Orleans Audubon Society : Program Meetings
Tuesday, January 17 2023
The ecology of sexual selection in a Neotropical lekking manakin
Time: 6:30 PM social, 7:00 PM program
Speaker: Luke Anderson, Tulane University
Location: Community Church Unitarian Universalist, 6690 Fleur De Lis Drive, New Orleans, LA 70124 (Lakeview).
Luke will discuss how genes and the environment interact to shape male mating success in lek mating systems, where males aggregate to perform elaborate courtship displays for females. In these systems, females conduct all parental care alone and exhibit stringent mating preferences; as a result, a small number of males achieves the vast majority of the mating success. His research in the White-bearded Manakin suggests that the distribution of fruit resources plays an important role in shaping the observed variation in male display performance and reproductive success at leks. The talk will feature videos of manakin courtship displays obtained by motion-activated camera trapping efforts at lek sites in northwest Ecuador.
Luke is a PhD candidate in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at Tulane University. His research primarily focuses on the ecological context and genomic consequences of sexual selection in manakins, an iconic family (Pipridae) of Neotropical lekking birds renowned for their extravagant displays and plumage. Luke conducts fieldwork in the Chocó rainforests of northwest Ecuador in close collaboration with members of the local community and the non-profit organization FCAT (Fundación para la Conservación de los Andes Tropicales).
Contact the event organizers: Volunteer & Continuing Education Committee