The goal of this project is to test the relative importance of functional versus aesthetic mate choice in the American goldfinch, and to investigate the possibility of "runaway" evolutionary change from functional to aesthetic mate choice. Two important topics will be investigated--the relationship between preferred naturally-occurring traits and reproductive success in the field, and the potential for aesthetic choice, as indicated by the mate preferences of females. Laboratory experiments will be performed to assess the influences on mate choice of naturally-varying traits, slight exaggerations of natural traits, novel traits represented by "artificial" characteristics, and of natural traits. Also to be assessed are the potentially important traits in a population of wild goldfinches with known ages and reproductive histories. This research will test important hypotheses of sexual selection and provide insight into the evolution of species appearance in this and other monogamous bird species. The institutional affiliation of the Fellow for the two year project duration is with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; the field work will take place at Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
