Display in monogamous pairs: a review of empirical data and evolutionary explanations

In recent years there has been a focus on display behaviours associated wit h the choice of a partner, theories of sexual selection being used to expla in their occurrence. In monogamous species, however, the display behaviours continue beyond pair formation. In this paper I review display between the members of established pairs. Pair display occurs throughout the pair bond and often in several different contexts. Besides mate choice, these displa ys are commonly explained as serving a function in territorial defence and pair bonding, but these explanations seem unable to account for all observa tions of pair display. However, another suggested function of display is to manipulate another individual. An individual may, for example, manipulate its partner into providing more parental care. Such an explanation has the advantage of simply requiring that partners are in conflict for conspicuous display to evolve and may provide a new interpretation of the idea of pair bonding. (C) 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.