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Jay Falk and Carl Bergstrom in The Daily on study about hummingbird plumage mimicry

Thursday, May 8, 2025 - 11:15

Jay Falk, Biology postdoctoral scholar, led a study examining why a minority of female white-necked jacobin hummingbirds mimic the colorful plumage of males. The research found that while reducing the amount of aggression the female hummingbirds receive, there are still certain costs associated with having male plumage. The study applied game theory to understand the interactions between animals. Also interviewed in the article is Carl Bergstrom, Biology professor and co-author of the study.

From The Daily:

However, Jay Falk, lead author of the study and former postdoctoral scholar in the biology department, explained there are still certain costs associated with having male plumage that prevent all females from mimicking the males.

“This model basically hypothesizes that there’s a cost to females having this ornamentation, and that cost is basically predation at the nest [because they become easier to spot],” Falk said. “And then we show that, as you increase the number of females that look like males, other hummingbirds start to understand that they’re being deceived and they start attacking back more.”

To conduct the study, researchers applied game theory — a study that applies mathematical models to study strategic interactions — to understand interactions between animals using previously collected data on white-necked jacobin hummingbirds. In this case, they investigated how the females choose to signal their sex to other hummingbirds to influence their behavior.

The researchers looked for an equilibrium point where a stable combination of behaviors is established, meaning no hummingbird wants to change their signaling strategy. They found that due to the costs of having male plumage, a hybrid equilibrium model — which occurs when signalers use a mixture of strategies rather than just one — exists among the females of this species. This means most females signal their sex honestly, while only some signal it dishonestly by imitating male ornamentation.

Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology and co-author of the study, noted that the findings of the study have strengthened the credibility of signaling theory.

“We’re trying to find these general rules and laws and mathematical equations that allow us to describe what kinds of signals are going to be out there in nature … and the mathematical equations we have accepted for other observations then makes predictions that we should have these hybrid equilibria out there,” Bergstrom said. “So, when you find them, then that provides you with additional confidence in the underlying theory.”

Read the full article on The Daily.

 

 

 

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