A focus on females can improve science and conservation

Abstract

As a field, ecology has historically misunderstood or overlooked female organisms, or assumed that they are ‘similar enough’ to males. The typical unit of study for ecology research stops at the species level, but that can be too coarse and can obscure important intraspecific differences. Projecting the results of studies based on only half of the population (i.e. males) onto females can be misleading, if not dangerous, as female birds differ from males in key aspects of their biology. Birds are widespread and can be sexed more often than most other taxa; yet although it uses them as model organisms, current ornithological research is disproportionately based on male birds. We review some fields pertinent to ecology and conservation and highlight biases and key research gaps. We find that, counter to ‘traditional’ assumptions, reproductive roles are balanced between sexes across many, but not all, species. In addition, female birds sing, tend to be more dispersive than males, have lower survival, often use different habitats – which has implications for conservation – and may be affected by climate change differently. We call for ornithologists to study sexes separately because the lack of attention to these differences has real-world conservation implications. Potential solutions include training observers to recognize female traits, using more field methods that increase the detection of female birds (e.g. catching birds during the migration season, using DNA to determine sex), broadening geographical regions of study and recruiting a diverse group of scientists to help equalize the field of ornithological research.