No Band Color Effects on Male Courtship Rate or Body Mass in the Zebra Finch: Four Experiments and a Meta-Analysis

Replication of experiments is essential for distinguishing real effects from type 1 errors and idiosyncrasies. One of the most replicated experiments in behavioral ecology is the presumed manipulation of male attractiveness in zebra finches by adding red or green color bands. Red-banded males were found to have higher fitness than green-banded males, and most empirical evidence suggests that this effect is mediated by female mating preferences rather than by male-male competition. A recent study, however, reported that color bands affected male courtship rate and body mass independently of female behavior. If this effect was real, some earlier findings of female preferences and maternal effects on offspring traits could potentially be reinterpreted as being mediated indirectly via effects on male behavior. This new perspective seems appealing also in light of a growing interest in bi-directional feedback mechanisms between endocrinology and ornamentation. However, here we report four independent failures to replicate this effect of color bands on courtship rate and body mass. Combining this new experimental data with all the published evidence in a meta-analysis shows that color bands seem to affect neither male courtship rate (average effect size d = 0.02) nor male body mass (d = -0.07). The present case is a reminder that replication of experiments lies at the heart of distinguishing between real effects and false positive findings.