Lek mating

For other uses, see Lek (disambiguation).

Greater sage-grouse at a lek, with multiple males displaying for the less conspicuous females

A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate.[1] It can also refer to a space used by displaying males to defend their own share of territory for the breeding season. A lekking species is characterised by male displays, strong female mate choice, and the conferring of indirect benefits to males and reduced costs to females. Although most prevalent among birds such as black grouse, lekking is also found in a wide range of vertebrates including some bony fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and arthropods including crustaceans and insects.

A classical lek consists of male territories in visual and auditory range of each other. An exploded lek, as seen in the kākāpō (the owl parrot), has more widely separated territories, but still in auditory range. Lekking is associated with an apparent paradox: strong sexual selection by females for specific male traits ought to erode genetic diversity by Fisherian runaway, but diversity is maintained and runaway does not occur. Many attempts have been made to explain it away,[2][3][4][5] but the paradox remains.

  1. ^ Fiske, P.; Rintamaki, P. T.; Karvonen, E. (1998). "Mating success in lekking males: a meta-analysis". Behavioral Ecology. 9 (4): 328–338. doi:10.1093/beheco/9.4.328.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Foster was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Thery was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference manipulating lek size was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Durães was invoked but never defined (see the help page).