Study duo find adaptive value of same-sex pairing in Laysan albatross
Wednesday, November 27, 2013 - 10:30
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org) —A pair of researchers with Pacific Rim Conservation has found that female same-sex pairings of Laysan albatross in Oahu, Hawaii results in more offspring for the colony of birds than if they'd gone it alone. In their paper published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the two describe their nine year study of the birds and the unique way they have evolved to handle an unusual situation—females outnumber males by a very large margin.