Males of many species engage in fierce competition for mates. This competition can take the form of intense battles with rivals or flashy displays that attract females, but in just a few species, males do something truly unusual: instead of competing, they cooperate. Male Lance-tailed Manakins form long-term two-male partnerships and display together for females, but only dominant “alpha” males mate with the females a pair attracts. Why do males cooperate, and what are females looking for, anyway? Drawing on 20 years of empirical research into Lance-tailed Manakin cooperation and mate choice, DuVal will explore the astounding behaviors that have resulted from intense sexual selection while questioning long-held assumptions about how sexual selection works.
Emily DuVal first became involved in ornithological research in college, collecting data on Great-tailed Grackle mating systems. Following graduation from Rice University, she traveled as a Watson fellow to study conflicts between conservation and cultural traditions in Guyana, Australia, and New Zealand. She studied Lance-tailed Manakins for her doctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, then did postdoctoral at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Seewiesen, Germany. DuVal is now an Associate Professor at Florida State University.