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68 results for “female mate choice”
Data from: Cryptic male mate choice for high-quality females reduces male postcopulatory success in future matings
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Data from: Genetic variation in male mate choice for large females in Drosophila melanogaster
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Data from: Male mate choice, male quality, and the potential for sexual selection on female traits under polygyny.
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Anthropogenic noise disrupts mate choice behaviors in female Gryllus bimaculatus
<p class="Heading1Text">By assessing the sexual signals produced by conspecifics, individuals can make informed decisions on the best choice of mate, which can lead to reproductive fitness benefits. However, these communication systems are often vulnerable to disruption by conflicting with stimuli present in the environment. Anthropogenic noise may act as one such disruptive stimulus, leading to inefficient mate choice decisions, and thus reductions to an animal's fitness. In this study, the mate choice behaviors of female <i>Gryllus bimaculatus</i> were tested when presented with artificial male courtship songs of differing 'quality' under different acoustic conditions. In ambient noise conditions, females significantly preferred mates paired with higher quality songs, indicated by increased mating rates and reduced latency to mate. However, this mate selection pattern was disrupted in both traffic and white noise conditions. Additionally, 'high quality' courtship songs had an increased mounting latency in traffic and white noise conditions, when compared to ambient noise conditions. Making non-optimal mating decisions, such as the ones seen here, can lead to deleterious fitness consequences, alter population dynamics and weaken sexual selection, unless individuals adapt to cope with anthropogenic interference.</p>
Data from: A probable case of incipient speciation in Schizocosa wolf spiders driven by allochrony, habitat use and female mate choice
There is growing evidence that speciation can occur between populations that are not geographically isolated. The emergence of assortative mating is believed to be critical to this process, but how assortative mating arises in diverging populations is poorly understood. The wolf spider genus Schizocosa has become a model system for studying mechanisms of assortative mating. We conducted a series of experiments to identify the factors that control mate pair formation in a Schizocosa population that includes both ornamented and non-ornamented males. We show that the population also includes two previously unrecognised female phenotypes. One female phenotype mates mostly or exclusively with ornamented males, and the other mates mostly or exclusively with unornamented males. Assortative mating within these groups is maintained by differences in maturation time, microhabitat use, and female mate preference. We conclude that the population is not a single species as previously believed, but rather an incipient species pair with multiple overlapping mechanisms of reproductive isolation. The identification of a new incipient species pair in the well-studied and rapidly speciating Schizocosa clade presents new opportunities for the study of speciation without geographic isolation.
Data from: Facultative pupal mating in Heliconius erato: implications for mate choice, female preference, and speciation
Mating systems have broad impacts on how sexual selection and mate choice operate within a species, but studies of mating behavior in the laboratory may not reflect how these processes occur in the wild. Here, we examined the mating behavior of the neotropical butterfly Heliconius erato in the field by releasing larvae and virgin females and observing how they mated. H. erato is considered a pupal-mating species (i.e., males mate with females as they emerge from the pupal case). However, we observed only two teneral mating events, and experimentally released virgins were almost all mated upon recapture. Our study confirms the presence of some pupal-mating behavior in H. erato, but suggests that adult mating is likely the prevalent mating strategy in this species. These findings have important implications for the role of color pattern and female mate choice in the generation of reproductive isolation in this diverse genus.
Data from: Female mating preferences and offspring survival: testing hypotheses on the genetic basis of mate choice in a wild lekking bird
Indirect benefits of mate choice result from increased offspring genetic quality and may be important drivers of female behaviour. 'Good-genes-for-viability' models predict that females prefer mates of high additive genetic value, such that offspring survival should correlate with male attractiveness. Mate choice may also vary with genetic diversity (e.g. heterozygosity) or compatibility (e.g. relatedness), where the female's genotype influences choice. The relative importance of these nonexclusive hypotheses remains unclear. Leks offer an excellent opportunity to test their predictions, because lekking males provide no material benefits and choice is relatively unconstrained by social limitations. Using 12 years of data on lekking lance-tailed manakins, Chiroxiphia lanceolata, we tested whether offspring survival correlated with patterns of mate choice. Offspring recruitment weakly increased with father attractiveness (measured as reproductive success, RS), suggesting attractive males provide, if anything, only minor benefits via offspring viability. Both male RS and offspring survival until fledging increased with male heterozygosity. However, despite parent–offspring correlation in heterozygosity, offspring survival was unrelated to its own or maternal heterozygosity or to parental relatedness, suggesting survival was not enhanced by heterozygosity per se. Instead, offspring survival benefits may reflect inheritance of specific alleles or nongenetic effects. Although inbreeding depression in male RS should select for inbreeding avoidance, mates were not less related than expected under random mating. Although mate heterozygosity and relatedness were correlated, selection on mate choice for heterozygosity appeared stronger than that for relatedness and may be the primary mechanism maintaining genetic variation in this system despite directional sexual selection.
Data from: Quantitative genetic analyses of male color pattern and female mate choice in a pair of cichlid fishes of Lake Malawi, East Africa
The traits involved in sexual selection, such as male secondary sexual characteristics and female mate choice, often co-evolve which can promote population differentiation. However, the genetic architecture of these phenotypes can influence their evolvability and thereby affect the divergence of species. The extraordinary diversity of East African cichlid fishes is often attributed to strong sexual selection and thus this system provides an excellent model to test predictions regarding the genetic architecture of sexually selected traits that contribute to reproductive isolation. In particular, theory predicts that rapid speciation is facilitated when male sexual traits and female mating preferences are controlled by a limited number of linked genes. However, few studies have examined the genetic basis of male secondary sexual traits and female mating preferences in cichlids and none have investigated the genetic architecture of both jointly. In this study, we artificially hybridized a pair of behaviorally isolated cichlid fishes from Lake Malawi and quantified both melanistic color pattern and female mate choice. We investigated the genetic architecture of both phenotypes using quantitative genetic analyses. Our results suggest that 1) many non-additively acting genetic factors influence melanistic color patterns, 2) female mate choice may be controlled by a minimum of 1–2 non-additive genetic factors, and 3) F2 female mate choice is not influenced by male courting effort. Furthermore, a joint analysis of color pattern and female mate choice indicates that the genes underlying these two traits are unlikely to be physically linked. These results suggest that reproductive isolation may evolve rapidly owing to the few genetic factors underlying female mate choice. Hence, female mate choice likely played an important role in the unparalleled speciation of East African cichlid fish.
Data from: Can alternative mating tactics facilitate introgression across a hybrid zone by circumventing female choice?
Reproductive barriers and divergence in species' mate recognition systems underlie major models of speciation. However, hybridization between divergent species is common, and classic mechanisms to explain permeable reproductive barriers rarely consider how an individual may attain reproductive success. Alternative mating tactics exist in various forms across animal taxa. Such tactics may allow poorer quality individuals to gain mating opportunities and facilitate introgression either through asymmetrical positive selection, or by circumventing female choice altogether in areas of secondary contact. One such tactic is satellite behaviour in frogs, where silent males perch near advertisers in an attempt to intercept females. To test whether such satellite male tactics are context-dependent and favoured by hybrids, we genotyped and quantified the morphology of 80 male spring peeper (Pseudacris crucifer) individuals involved in caller-satellite associations from a secondary contact zone between two intraspecific mitochondrial lineages. Irrespective of population, satellite behaviour was best predicted by size but not body condition. Within the contact zone, pure individuals showed a significantly greater probability of being active callers, whereas hybrids of one lineage were more likely to adopt the satellite tactic. We suggest that satellite behaviour in P. crucifer promotes introgression, breaks-down reproductive isolating barriers, and contributes to asymmetrical introgression in this secondary contact zone. Alternative mating tactics may thus be an underexplored but important alternative to oft-discussed causes of genetic discordance found in hybrid zones.
Data from: Female resistance to sexual coercion can evolve to preserve the indirect benefits of mate choice
Sexual conflict over the indirect benefits of mate choice may arise when traits in one sex limit the ability of the other sex to freely choose mates but when these coercive traits are not necessarily directly harmful (i.e. forced fertilization per se). While we might hypothesize that females can evolve resistance in order to retain the indirect, genetic benefits (reflected in offspring attractiveness) of mating with attractive males, up to now it has been difficult to evaluate potential underlying mechanisms. Traditional theoretical approaches do not usually conceptually distinguish between female preference for male mating display and female resistance to forced fertilization, yet sexual conflict over indirect benefits implies the simultaneous action of all of these traits. Here we present an integrative theoretical framework that draws together concepts from both sexual selection and sexual conflict traditions, allowing for the simultaneous coevolution of displays and preferences, and of coercion and resistance. We demonstrate that it is possible for resistance to coercion to evolve in the absence of direct costs of mating to preserve the indirect benefits of mate choice. We find that resistance traits that improve the efficacy of female mating preference can evolve as long as females are able to attain some indirect benefits of mating with attractive males, even when both attractive and unattractive males can coerce. These results reveal new evolutionary outcomes that were not predicted by prior theories of indirect benefits or sexual conflict.
Data from: Trial marriage model – female mate choice under male interference
<ol> <li>In sexually reproducing animals, the process of mate choice by females is often mixed with the process of male-male competition. Current models of female male choice focus mainly on how females identify the higher quality of males, but neglect the effect of male-male competition on the mate choice of females. Therefore, it remains controversial what is the relative importance of two processes in forming a social bond.</li> <li>We propose a new "trial marriage" model for females' mate choice. The model assumes that females unconditionally accept any male they first encounter as their mating partner, and then conditionally switch mates to a new male of higher quality than their current partner when male-male competition occurs. This model was tested in the green weevil, <i><span>Hypomeces squamosus</span></i><span>, by exploring how </span>females switched mates when males' mating interference was experimentally induced.</li> <li>The likelihood that females switched mates, as well as their conditional acceptance criteria of a new mate, was both raised with the intensity of males' mating interference that was manipulated in an enhanced encounter rate experiment, and in male introduction or stepwise removal experiments. These experimental findings confirm that a "trial marriage" strategy occurs during females' mate choice.</li> <li>Compared with other strategies, it is more beneficial for females to choose a better mate without paying the costs of identifying males as suggested by the "trial marriage" strategy. More importantly, by using the current partner quality as the conditional acceptance threshold of new mates, females can choose better males in future encounters with potential mates. In the green weevils, males' preference for larger females and the higher possibility of the largest male winning an interference are mixed together when males' mating interference reaches a higher intensity. Therefore, the consequence of a male interference will determine which male could be chosen by a female. Under this condition, conditional acceptance of the winner becomes the most beneficial strategy of females in choosing their mates. We thus suggest that the "trial marriage" strategy would be more efficient when males' mating interference becomes the determinant factor of females' mate choice.</li> </ol>
Does sexual experience affect the strength of male mate choice for high-quality females in Drosophila melanogaster?
<p><span><span><span><span>Although females are traditionally thought of as the choosy sex, there is increasing evidence in many species that males will preferentially court or mate with certain females over others when given a choice. In the fruit fly, <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em>, males discriminate between potential mating partners based on a number of female traits, including species, mating history, age, and condition. Interestingly, many of these male preferences are affected by the male's previous sexual experiences, such that males increase courtship toward types of females that they have previously mated with and decrease courtship toward types of females that have previously rejected them. <em>D. melanogaster </em>males also show courtship and mating preferences for larger females over smaller females, likely because larger females have higher fecundity. It is unknown, however, whether this preference shows behavioral plasticity based on the male's sexual history as we see for other male preferences. Here, we manipulate the sexual experience of <em>D. melanogaster </em>males and test whether this manipulation has any effect on the strength of male mate choice for large females. We find that sexually inexperienced males have a robust courtship preference for large females that is unaffected by previous experience mating with, or being rejected by, females of differing sizes. Given that female body size is one of the most common targets of male mate choice across insect species, our experiments with <em>D. melanogaster </em>may provide insight into how these preferences develop and evolve.</span></span></span></span></p>
Does sexual experience affect the strength of male mate choice for high-quality females in Drosophila melanogaster?
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Data from: Mate choice in the eye and ear of the beholder? Female multimodal sensory configuration influences her preferences
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Data from: Inbreeding avoidance and female mate choice shape reproductive skew in capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus imitator)
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Data from: Size matters: male and female mate choice leads to size-assortative pairing in a coral reef cardinalfish
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Data from: Female mating preferences and offspring survival: testing hypotheses on the genetic basis of mate choice in a wild lekking bird
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Data from: Can alternative mating tactics facilitate introgression across a hybrid zone by circumventing female choice?
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Data from: Trial marriage model – female mate choice under male interference
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Data from: Female resistance to sexual coercion can evolve to preserve the indirect benefits of mate choice
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