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37 results for “mating strategy”
Disentangling the causes of age-assortative mating in bird populations with contrasting life-history strategies
<ol> <li>Age shapes fundamental processes related to behaviour, survival and reproduction. Where age influences reproductive success, non-random mating with respect to age can magnify or mitigate such effects. Consequently, the correlation in partners' age across a population may influence its productivity. Despite widespread evidence for age-assortative mating, little is known about what drives this assortment and its variation. Specifically, the relative importance of active (same-age mate preference) and passive processes (assortment as a consequence of other spatial or temporal effects) in driving age-assortment is not well understood.</li> <li>In this paper, we compare breeding data from a great tit and mute swan population (51- and 31-year datasets respectively) to tease apart the contributions of pair retention, cohort age-structure, and active age-related mate selection to age-assortment in species with contrasting life-histories.</li> <li>Both species show age-assortative mating, and variable assortment between years. However, we demonstrate that the drivers of age-assortment differ between the species, as expected from their life-histories and resultant demographic differences. In great tits, pair fidelity has a weak effect on age-assortative mating through pair retention; variation in age-assortment is primarily driven by fluctuations in age-structure from variable juvenile recruitment. Age-assortative mating is therefore largely passive, with no evidence consistent with active age-related mate selection. In mute swans, age-assortment is partly explained by pair retention, but not population age-structure, and evidence exists for active age-assortative pairing.</li> <li>This difference is likely to result from shorter life-spans in great tits compared to mute swans, leading to fundamental differences in their population age-structure, whereby a larger proportion of great tit populations consist of a single age-cohort. In mute swans, age-assortative pairing through mate selection may also be driven by greater age-dependent variation in fitness.</li> <li>The study highlights the importance of considering how different life-histories, and demographic differences arising from these, affect population processes that appear congruent across species. We suggest that future research should focus on uncovering the proximate mechanisms that lead to variation in active age-assortative mate selection (as seen in mute swans); and the consequences of variation in age-structure on the ecological and social functioning of wild populations.</li> </ol>
Disentangling the causes of age-assortative mating in bird populations with contrasting life-history strategies
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Data from: Mate choice strategies in a spatially-explicit model environment
Decisions about the choice of a mate can greatly impact both individual fitness and selection processes. We developed a novel agent-based model to investigate two common mate choice rules that may be used by female gray treefrogs (Hyla versicolor). In this model environment, female agents using the minimum-threshold strategy found higher quality mates and traveled shorter distances on average, compared with female agents using the best-of-n strategy. Females using the minimum-threshold strategy, however, incur significant lost opportunity costs, depending on the male population quality average. The best-of-n strategy leads to significant female:female competition that limits their ability to find high quality mates. Thus, when the sex ratio is 0.8, best-of-5 and best-of-2 strategies yield mates of nearly identical quality. Although the distance traveled by females in the mating task varied depending on male spatial distribution in the environment, this did not interact with female choice for the best-of-n or minimum-threshold strategies. By incorporating empirical data from the frogs in this temporally- and spatially-explicit model, we thus show the emergence of novel interactions of common decision-making rules with realistic environmental variables.
Data from: The role of male coloration and ornamentation in potential alternative mating strategies of the dimorphic jumping spider, Maevia inclemens
Polymorphism can arise across taxa due to various selection pressures and potentially lead to alternative mating or antipredator strategies. For male jumping spiders, sexual selection and predation risk are often intertwined when courting cannibalistic females and may be a driving factor in the polymorphism of the jumping spider, Maevia inclemens. The dimorphic males of M. inclemens differ dramatically in their complex courtship behavior and display traits that may function as alternative mating strategies to reduce female aggression and maximize mating success. We hypothesized that males of the "tufted" morph honestly communicate condition or body size to females with three conspicuous tufts of setae on their head and males of the "striped" morph reduce female aggression with coloration commonly found in aposematic animals (here, yellow-orange pedipalps and striped legs). We examined correlations between tuft length and symmetry and metrics of body size and condition in field-collected spiders and conducted prey color choice tests (with live color-manipulated prey) to determine if yellow-orange and striped prey are avoided. Tuft length was variable and correlated with male size (but not condition). All prey color types were attacked at equal rates, but spiders oriented to striped prey more often, suggesting that male stripes may attract female attention without increasing predation. This study provides insight into the potential functions of the different courtship and visual displays of M. inclemens males. Using jumping spiders to study polymorphism can provide new insight into how multiple morphs can evolve, as males use mating strategies not only to impress females but also avoid getting eaten by their potential mates.
Comparative genomics reveals evolution traits, mating strategies and pathogenicity-related genes variation of Botryosphaeriaceae
<p><em>Botryosphaeriaceae</em>, as a major family of the largest class of kingdom fungi <em>Dothideomycetes</em>, encompasses phytopathogens, saprobes, and endophytes. Many members of this family are opportunistic phytopathogens with a wide host range and worldwide geographical distribution, and can infect many economically important plants, including food crops and bio-material plants. To date, however, little is known about the family evolutionary characterization, mating strategies, and pathogenicity-related genes variation from a comparative genome perspective. Here, we conducted the first large-scale whole-genome comparison of 271 <em>Dothideomycetes</em>, including 19 species in <em>Botryosphaeriaceae</em>. The comparative genome analysis provided a clear classification of <em>Botryosphaeriaceae</em> in <em>Dothideomycetes</em> and indicated that <em>Botryosphaeriaceae</em> pathogenicity evolution undergoes multiple times. Mating strategies analysis demonstrated at least 3 transitions were found within <em>Botryosphaeriaceae</em> from heterothallism to homothallism. Additionally, pathogenicity-related genes contents in different species within <em>Botryosphaeriaceae</em> varied greatly, indicating that a secondary lineage expansion occurs in speciation. These findings cast new insights into evolution traits, mating strategies and pathogenicity-related genes variation of <em>Botryosphaeriaceae</em>.</p>
Autopolyploid establishment depends on life history strategy and the mating outcomes of clonal architecture
<p><span>Polyploidy is a significant component in the evolution of many taxa, particularly plant groups. However, new polyploids face substantial fitness disadvantages due to a lack of same-cytotype mates, and the factors promoting or preventing polyploid establishment in natural populations are often unclear. We develop spatially explicit agent-based simulation models to test the hypothesis that a perennial life history and clonal propagation facilitate the early stages of polyploid establishment and persistence. Our models show that polyploids are more likely to establish when they have longer lifespans than diploids, especially when self-fertilization rates are high. Polyploids that combine sexual and clonal reproduction can establish across a wide range of life histories, but their success is moderated by clonal strategy. By tracking individuals and mating events we reveal that clonal architecture has a substantial impact on the spatial structure of the mixed diploid-polyploid population during polyploid establishment: altering patterns of mating within or between cytotypes via geitonogamous self-fertilization, the mechanisms through which polyploid establishment proceeds, and the final composition of the polyploid population. Overall, our findings provide novel insight into the role of clonal structure in modulating the complex relationship between polyploidy, perenniality, and clonality; and offer testable predictions for future empirical work. </span></p>
Data for: Mating strategy predicts gene presence/absence patterns in a genus of simultaneously hermaphroditic flatworms
<p>This repository contains a record of analysis scripts and similarity score data used for the analyses presented in the manuscript.</p> <p>Some of the R scripts depend on supplementary tables associated with the manuscript.</p> <p>A preprint of the manuscript is available at: <a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.25.489193v2">https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.25.489193v2</a></p>
Variability in mating strategies in a wide spread cactus in the Chihuahuan desert
<p><em>Opuntia</em> is the most diverse and widespread genus in the Cactaceae; several species have broad distribution ranges and have successfully adapted to distinct habitats. One explanation for their success is the diversity of their reproductive systems. <em>Opuntia macrocentra Engelm</em> is one of the most common widespread species in North American deserts. Previous work on a northern population documented that this species has a mixed-mating system and receives a low frequency of pollinators. In a southern population of <em>O. macrocentra</em>, we described its floral visitors, anthesis schedules, and flower morphometry. Through controlled pollination experiments (selfing, outcrossing, supplementary pollen, and natural pollination), we assessed the breeding and mating systems and measured pollen limitation. Eight different bee species visited the flowers. Based on their conduct, <em>Diadasia rinconis</em> and <em>Lasioglossum sp</em>. were the main pollinators. Flowers were homogamous and herkogamous. Floral traits and pollination experiments showed that <em>O. macrocentra</em> is xenogamous and self-incompatible. The fruit set of the natural pollination, outcrossing, and supplementary pollen treatments were not statistically different. The seed set was higher in natural pollination and the pollen limitation index for the seed set was negative. Based on these results, we conclude that <em>O. macrocentra</em> is not pollen limited in the studied population. These results contrast with those of the previously studied population; therefore, we caution about making generalizations about the reproductive system based solely on studies in one population. The diversity of mating systems displayed by <em>O. macrocentra</em> may explain its broad distribution and adaptation to different environmental factors, one of which may be pollinator availability. Our results highlight the need to describe the reproductive ecology of populations instead of species because reproductive systems and ecological factors such as plant-animal interactions may differ across their distribution range.</p>
Data from: Mate choice strategies in a spatially-explicit model environment
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Mate desertion affects offspring survival, development and physiology in a songbird with multiple parental strategies
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Data from: The role of male coloration and ornamentation in potential alternative mating strategies of the dimorphic jumping spider, Maevia inclemens
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Variability in mating strategies in a wide spread cactus in the Chihuahuan desert
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Autopolyploid establishment depends on life history strategy and the mating outcomes of clonal architecture
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Data from: Female-biased dispersal in a bat with a female-defence mating strategy
The ultimate causes for predominant male-biased dispersal (MBD) in mammals and female-biased dispersal (FBD) in birds are still subject to much debate. Studying exceptions to general patterns of dispersal, for example, FBD in mammals, provides a valuable opportunity to test the validity of proposed evolutionary pressures. We used long-term behavioural and genetic data on individually banded Proboscis bats (Rhynchonycteris naso) to show that this species is one of the rare mammalian exceptions with FBD. Our results suggest that all females disperse from their natal colonies prior to first reproduction and that a substantial proportion of males are philopatric and reproduce in their natal colonies, although male immigration has also been detected. The age of females at first conception falls below the tenure of males, suggesting that females disperse to avoid father–daughter inbreeding. Male philopatry in this species is intriguing because Proboscis bats do not share the usual mammalian correlates (i.e. resource-defence polygyny and/or kin cooperation) of male philopatry. They have a mating strategy based on female defence, where local mate competition between male kin is supposedly severe and should prevent the evolution of male philopatry. However, in contrast to immigrant males, philopatric males may profit from acquaintance with the natal foraging grounds and may be able to attain dominance easier and/or earlier in life. Our results on Proboscis bats lent additional support to the importance of inbreeding avoidance in shaping sex-biased dispersal patterns and suggest that resource defence by males or kin cooperation cannot fully explain the evolution of male philopatry in mammals.
Data from: From resource to female defence: the impact of roosting ecology on a bat's mating strategy
With their extraordinary species richness and diversity in ecological traits and social systems, bats are a promising taxon for testing socio-ecological hypotheses in order to get new insights into the evolution of animal social systems. Regarding its roosting habits, proboscis bats form an extreme by occupying sites which are usually completely exposed to daylight (e.g. tree trunks, vines or rocks). This is accompanied by morphological and behavioural adaptations to remain cryptic in exposed day roosts. With long-term behavioural observations and genetic parentage analyses of individually marked proboscis bats, we assessed its social dispersion and male mating strategy during day and night. Our results reveal nocturnal male territoriality—a strategy which most closely resembles a resource-defence polygyny that is frequent also in other tropical bats. Its contrasting clumped social dispersion during the day is likely to be the result of strong selection for crypsis in exposed roosts and is accompanied by direct female defence in addition to male territoriality. To the best of our knowledge, such contrasting male mating strategies within a single day–night cycle have not been described in a vertebrate species so far and illustrate a possible evolutionary trajectory from resource-defence to female-defence strategy by small ecologically driven evolutionary steps.
Figure 1 in Short Note Multiple paternity in the pueriparous North African fire salamander, Salamandra algira, supports polyandry as a successful mating strategy in low fecundity Salamandra lineages
Figure 1. (a) Distribution of both species displaying reproductive polymorphism, Salamandra salamandra (in blue) and Salamandra algira (in green). In red, the area of occurrence of pueriparity within each species. Values next to each pueriparous nuclei denote the frequency of multiple paternity. (b) Detail of the western-most distribution area of S. algira where the pueriparous lineage occurs (in red). The box shows the number of fathers and the proportion of the offspring sired by each male for all four studied females. Numbers in brackets are clutch size in each female.
Data from: Biomechanical diversity of mating structures among harvestmen species is consistent with a spectrum of precopulatory strategies
Diversity in reproductive structures is frequently explained by selection acting at individual to generational timescales, but interspecific differences predicted by such models (e.g., female choice or sexual conflict) are often untestable in a phylogenetic framework. An alternative approach focuses on clade- or function-specific hypotheses that predict evolutionary patterns in terms neutral to specific modes of sexual selection. Here we test a hypothesis that diversity of reproductive structures in leiobunine harvestmen (daddy longlegs) of eastern North America reflects two sexually coevolved but non-overlapping precopulatory strategies, a primitive solicitous strategy (females enticed by penis-associated nuptial gifts), and a multiply derived antagonistic strategy (penis exerts mechanical force against armature of the female pregenital opening). Predictions of sexual coevolution and fidelity to precopulatory categories were tested using 10 continuously varying functional traits from 28 species. Multivariate analyses corroborated sexual coevolution but failed to partition species by precopulatory strategy, with multiple methods placing species along a spectrum of mechanical antagonistic potential. These findings suggest that precopulatory features within species reflect different co-occurring levels of solicitation and antagonism, and that gradualistic evolutionary pathways exist between extreme strategies. The ability to quantify antagonistic potential of precopulatory structures invites comparison with ecological variables that may promote evolutionary shifts in precopulatory strategies.
Figure 8 in The influence of ants on the mating strategy of a myrmecophilic jumping spider (Araneae, Salticidae)
Figure 8. Phintella piatensis male (facing diagonally forward and to the right) in sprawled-legs posture with body tilted up and palps frontal.
Figure 9 in The influence of ants on the mating strategy of a myrmecophilic jumping spider (Araneae, Salticidae)
Figure 9. Phintella piatensis male (facing to right; dorsal view) in sprawled-legs posture with legs I erect in Position 2 and with palps semi-erect in Position 1.
Figure 5 in The influence of ants on the mating strategy of a myrmecophilic jumping spider (Araneae, Salticidae)
Figure 5. Phintella piatensis female in a normal body posture holding the palps in a normal posture.
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