Genetic evidence for male-biased dispersal in Elliot’s Pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti) in China

Abstract

Sex-biased dispersal, in which individuals of one sex tend to disperse and breed at a greater distance from their natal site than individuals of the opposite sex, appears to be common in vertebrate organisms and is very important to population structures and dynamics. Many studies have documented the dispersal patterns of monogamous birds; however, observations and data are few for polygynous birds. In our study, we report on the indication of sex-biased dispersal in Elliot’s Pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti), a vulnerable species endemic to China, using polymorphic DNA microsatellite loci (105 individual birds and seven loci) and mitochondrial DNA control-region sequences (63 birds). Contrary to the traditional con- cept that males are the more philopatric sex and females the more dispersing sex in birds, all the genetic information extracted from the two markers suggests that male-biased dispersal is predominant in Elliot’s Pheasant. We argue that polygynous species in Galliformes without lekking behavior are more likely to ex- hibit male-biased dispersal patterns, consistent with the expected results based on the polygynous mating system of Elliot’s Pheasant.