Genetic evidence for male biased dispersal in the red-billed quelea Quelea quelea

In order to detect sex-biased dispersal in the red-billed quelea Quelea quelea in southern Africa, we used the assignment index technique to determine the probability that individuals originated from the population in which they were sampled. This is the first time that this multilocus genetic test has been used in a bird species and is informative despite evidence that the population under study exhibits little genetic structure. There was a pattern of male-biased dispersal, the first example in a passerine, and the first time that evidence of a sex-biased pattern of dispersal has been shown for queleas.