Why Are Some Birds So Colorful?: The Evolution of Avian Ornamentation
At the Museum | Farrand Auditorium
Presented by the Santa Barbara Audubon Society
Flamboyant traits used in courtship are known throughout the animal kingdom but are especially conspicuous in many species of birds. The idea that these displays can help win mates is widely appreciated but, as often in science, it contains many additional puzzles. Since neither males nor females would get genes into the next generation without a mate, why is it generally just one sex that is ornamented? In such cases, why is it almost always the male who has the fancy plumage? And what explains the rare but critical test cases where the female is the flamboyant sex? Finally, what is the point of all this fussy mate choice? Wouldn’t it be less costly to mate with the first member of the opposite sex that crossed one’s path?
These puzzles were first considered by Charles Darwin, who admitted he couldn’t solve them but launched a vast and vibrant field of study: sexual selection. Steven Gaulin will summarize and illustrate emerging understandings about the operation of sexual selection, drawing most of his examples from birds.
Steven Gaulin, a professor of Anthropology at UCSB and an avid birder for more than half a century, earned his undergraduate degree with a double major in Anthropology and Psychology at U.C. Berkeley and a PhD in Anthropology at Harvard University. He was a member of both the Anthropology and Psychology Departments at the University of Pittsburgh until 2003, when he was recruited to UCSB. In 2015 he received UCSB’s highest teaching award. Gaulin’s research considers the effects of sexual selection on anatomy, physiology, and psychology, and he has published highly cited scholarly articles and textbooks that span these fields. He is the sole author of Human Evolution: Processes and Adaptations and first author (with Donald McBurney) of Evolution Psychology.
This talk is free and open to all; no tickets or reservations required. For more information, please call Santa Barbara Audubon Society at 805-964-1468.
Photos by Judith Geiger and Steven Gaulin
