Ecology of Alternative Inversion Alleles and Reproductive Strategies of Ruff Sandpipers

The maintenance of ecologically significant genetic polymorphisms remains a challenging field within evolutionary ecology. I will present genetic, physiological, ethological, and behavioural ecological mechanisms involved in maintaining three behavioural male morphs and individually distinctive breeding plumage polymorphism in the ruff, Philomachus pugnax, a lekking sandpiper. I will concentrate on: behavioural mating tactics of male morphs based on field and captive studies, field estimates of annual morph-specific mating success, and factors maintaining equilibrium levels among morphs, including considerations of lek size, differential fitness of female morphs, and potential mate-specific sex allocation by females. I conclude that strong sexually antagonistic intralocus conflict is likely operating at the morph-determining inversion.