Data from: Innovative females are more promiscuous in great tits (Parus major)

Individual variation in the propensity to express innovative behaviors is increasingly recognized as ecologically and evolutionary significant. A growing number of studies show that more innovative individuals can realize higher breeding success, indicating that innovativeness may be important in mating decisions. Here we investigated whether male and female performance in innovative problem-solving tasks is linked to sexual selection via extra-pair mating behavior. We observed the problem-solving success of great tit (Parus major) pairs in 2 tasks at the nest, and related it to the occurrence of extra-pair paternity (EPP) in their broods. In a food-acquisition task, we found no difference in EPP among pairs in which the male solved, pairs in which the female solved, and unsuccessful pairs. In an obstacle-removal task that was solved almost exclusively by females, EPP was more frequent in broods of solver females than in broods of unsuccessful females. These results do not support the hypothesis that the social male’s innovativeness influences the female’s extra-pair mating behavior. Instead, they suggest that the female’s infidelity covaries positively with her innovativeness. Furthermore, EPP was related to both parents’ neophobia such that pairs of highly neophobic individuals were less likely to have EPP than pairs that contained at least one individual with low neophobia. These findings indicate that promiscuity is associated with certain behavioral phenotypes, suggesting that both innovativeness and novelty seeking may facilitate the investment into and/or the exposure to extra-pair mating attempts.

个体展现创新行为的倾向差异，其生态学与进化学意义正日益得到学界认可。越来越多的研究表明，创新能力更强的个体可获得更高的繁殖成功率，这提示创新特质可能在择偶决策中具有重要作用。本研究旨在探讨雌雄个体在创新性问题解决任务中的表现，是否会通过婚外配行为（extra-pair mating behavior）与性选择产生关联。我们以大山雀（Parus major）的配对个体为研究对象，在其鸟巢内开展了两项问题解决任务的能力观测，并将观测结果与它们育雏中的婚外父权（extra-pair paternity, EPP）发生情况进行关联分析。在食物获取任务中，我们未发现雄性解决者配对、雌性解决者配对以及未完成任务的配对之间，婚外父权发生率存在显著差异。在一项几乎仅由雌性完成的障碍物移除任务中，成功完成任务的雌性所在育雏的婚外父权发生率，显著高于未完成任务的雌性所在育雏。上述结果并不支持‘社会配偶的创新特质会影响雌性婚外配行为’这一假说。与之相反，研究结果表明雌性的不忠行为与其自身创新特质呈正相关。此外，婚外父权发生率还与双亲的新物恐惧症（neophobia）水平相关：双亲均为高新物恐惧症个体的配对，其育雏发生婚外父权的概率显著低于至少一方为低新物恐惧症个体的配对。本研究结果显示，滥交行为与特定的行为表型存在关联，这提示创新特质与求新行为均可能推动个体投入婚外配尝试，或增加其暴露于婚外配机会的概率。