Neighbouring male spotted bowerbirds are not related, but do maraud each other

Males with elaborate secondary sexual traits can enhance their mating success both by choosing to display at a site that increases the efficacy of their signal and by displaying at a site where the population is structured to provide inclusive fitness benefits via kin selection. Theoretical models and field studies reveal that, across a range of species and especially those with nonresource-based mating systems, males do display with kin. Bowerbirds use a nonresource-based mating system where males show spatial site fidelity and females visit the sites for the purpose of mate choice. However, neighbours can interfere with bower display by marauding (destroying and decoration stealing). Models suggest that local nonaggression pacts provide the best conditional strategy for males, a situation that may be facilitated by kin-mediated inclusive fitness benefits if males displayed together. We used a novel method of calculating relatedness, based on amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP), in a population of spotted bowerbirds, Chlamydera maculata, and found no evidence of fine-scale genetic structuring of display sites. Furthermore, males did not display next to kin, but instead an owner's neighbours were those most likely to maraud his bower. Marauders did not discriminate between kin and nonkin as their victims. Such theft and destruction may affect the mating success of the targeted bower owner. (C) 2004 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.