scholarly journals I'm sexy and I glow it: female ornamentation in a nocturnal capital breeder

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 20150599 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juhani Hopkins ◽  
Gautier Baudry ◽  
Ulrika Candolin ◽  
Arja Kaitala
Keyword(s):  
Female Size ◽  
Female Fecundity ◽  
Male Preference ◽  
Sexual Signal ◽  
Sexual Ornaments ◽  
Female Ornamentation ◽  
Female Ornament ◽  
Female Ornaments ◽  
Capital Breeder ◽  
Male Mate

In many species, males rely on sexual ornaments to attract females. Females, by contrast, rarely produce ornaments. The glow-worm ( Lampyris noctiluca ) is an exception where wingless females glow to attract males that fly in search of females. However, little is known about the factors that promote the evolution of female ornaments in a sexual selection context. Here, we investigated if the female ornament of the glow-worm is a signal of fecundity used in male mate choice. In support of this, we found brightness to correlate with female fecundity, and males to prefer brighter dummy females. Thus, the glow emitted by females is a reliable sexual signal of female fecundity. It is likely that male preference for the fecundity-indicating ornament has evolved because of large variation among females in fecundity, and because nocturnal males cannot directly assess female size and fecundity. These results indicate that female ornamentation may evolve in capital breeders (i.e. those in which stored resources are invested in reproduction) when females vary significantly in fecundity and this variation cannot be assessed directly by males.

scholarly journals Experimental evidence that female ornamentation increases the acquisition of sperm and signals fecundity

2006 ◽  
Vol 274 (1609) ◽  
pp. 583-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie K Cornwallis ◽  
Tim R Birkhead
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Partners ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Female Ornamentation ◽  
Female Ornament ◽  
Female Ornaments ◽  
Sexual Ornamentation ◽  
Gain Access

Mate choice can lead to the evolution of sexual ornamentation. This idea rests on the assumption that individuals with more elaborate ornaments than competitors have higher reproductive success due to gaining greater control over mating decisions and resources provided by partners. Nevertheless, how the resources and quality of sexual partners that individuals gain access to are influenced by the ornamentation of rival individuals remains unclear. By experimentally concealing and subsequently revealing female ornaments to males, we confirm in the fowl, Gallus gallus , that female ornamentation influences male mating decisions. We further show, by manipulating the relative ornament size of females, that when females had larger ornaments than competitors they were more often preferred by males and obtained more sperm, especially from higher quality males, as measured by social status. Males may benefit by investing more sperm in females with larger ornaments as they were in better condition and produced heavier eggs. Female ornament size also decreased during incubation, providing a cue for males to avoid sexually unreceptive females. This study reveals how inter-sexual selection can lead to the evolution of female ornaments and highlights how the reproductive benefits gained from mate choice and bearing ornaments can be dependent upon social context.

scholarly journals Visual-based male mate preference for conspecific females in mutually ornamented fish: possible importance of species recognition hypothesis

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keisuke Atsumi ◽  
Osamu Kishida ◽  
Itsuro Koizumi
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Social Selection ◽  
Interspecies Interactions ◽  
Tribolodon Hakonensis ◽  
Male Preference ◽  
Female Ornamentation ◽  
Male Mate ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
And Behavior

Because sexual selection typically acts on males, evolution of conspicuous ornamentation in females has been understudied. Genetic correlation between sexes and sexual or social selection on females have been proposed to explain female ornamentation, but they cannot fully explain observed patterns in nature such as female ornamentation in non-territorial, promiscuous species. The species recognition hypothesis, which postulates that ornamentation is adaptive because it prevents maladaptive hybridization, might plausibly explain female ornamentation. We examined the possibility of this hypothesis in two sympatric, non-territorial, promiscuous fish species. Both sexes of Tribolodon hakonensis and T. sachalinensis display species-specific conspicuous coloration in the breeding season. We conducted visual-based mate choice experiments using T. hakonensis males and compared their association times between conspecific and heterospecific females. Males spent more time near conspecifics, indicating that T. hakonensis males used visual cues to recognize conspecifics. Because the females presented to the males did not differ in body size, shape and behavior between the two species, the male preference for conspecifics was probably based on the females' nuptial coloration. These results suggest that female ornamentation may evolve or be maintained by not only sexual or social selection within a species but also interspecies interactions (e.g. hybridization).

scholarly journals Female ornamentation and the fecundity trade-off in a sex-role reversed pipefish

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenyon B. Mobley ◽  
John R. Morrongiello ◽  
Matthew Warr ◽  
Diane Bray ◽  
Bob B. M. Wong
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Sex Role ◽  
Relative Fitness ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Female Fecundity ◽  
Body Width ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Female Ornamentation ◽  
Female Ornaments

AbstractFemale ornaments are a rare occurrence in nature. One explanation for this is that female ornaments are costly to produce and maintain and, therefore, females must trade-off resources related to reproduction to promote ornament expression. Here, we investigate the potential trade-off between female ornamentation and fecundity in the sex-role reversed, wide-bodied pipefish, Stigmatopora nigra. We measured two components of the female ornament, body width and stripe thickness, and tested the relationship between these ornaments and female fecundity and the mean egg size. Both body width and stripe thickness were strongly and positively related to female body size. After controlling for the influence of body size, we found no evidence of a cost of belly width or stripe thickness on female fecundity. Rather, females that have larger ornaments have higher fecundity and thus a greater relative fitness advantage. However, larger females suffered a slight decrease in egg size, consistent with a potential trade-off between egg size and body size, although no relationship between egg size and ornaments was observed. Our results suggest that larger S. nigra females accurately advertise their reproductive value to males, and underscore the importance of investigating the potential mechanisms that promote and maintain honesty of female ornaments.

scholarly journals Do female ornaments indicate quality in eider ducks?

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksi Lehikoinen ◽  
Kim Jaatinen ◽  
Markus Öst
Keyword(s):  
Body Condition ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Somateria Mollissima ◽  
Individual Quality ◽  
Female Ornamentation ◽  
Female Ornament ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Female Ornaments ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Female Specific

The fitness consequences of female ornamentation remain little studied and the results are often contradictory. Female ornamentation may be an artefact of a genetic correlation with male ornamentation, but this possibility can be disregarded if the ornament only occurs in females. Female-specific white wing bars in eiders ( Somateria mollissima ) have been suggested to indicate individual quality, and we studied size variation in this trait in relation to key fitness components and quality attributes. We found that clutch size, body condition, female age, hatching date and success were unrelated to female ornament size; ornament size was explained by its size in the previous year. In contrast, good body condition was associated with hatching success. These results suggest that the breadth of the white wing bars does not indicate individual quality in our study population.

scholarly journals The significant role of post-pairing male behavior on the evolution of male preferences and female traits

2022 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Lyu ◽  
D. Justin Yeh ◽  
Huw Lloyd ◽  
Yue-Hua Sun
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Male Mate Choice ◽  
Female Fecundity ◽  
Male Preference ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory ◽  
Mating Opportunities ◽  
Male Mate

AbstractExisting sexual selection theory postulates that a sufficiently large variation in female fecundity or other direct benefits are fundamental for generating male mate choice. In this study, we suggest that, in addition to pre-pairing preferences, choosy males can also have different post-pairing behaviors, a factor which has been comparatively overlooked by previous studies. We found that both male preferences and female traits could evolve much more easily than previously expected when the choosy males that paired with unpreferred females would allocate more efforts to seeking additional post-pairing mating opportunities. Furthermore, a costly female trait could evolve when there was a trade-off between seeking additional mating and paternal care investment within social pair for choosy males. Finally, a costly male preference and a costly female trait might still evolve and reach a stable polymorphic state in the population, which might give rise to a high variability in male choice and female traits in nature. We suggest that male mate choice may be even more common than expected, which needs to be verified empirically.

scholarly journals Be prudent if it fits you well: male mate choice depends on male size in a golden orb-weaver spider

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Pollo ◽  
Danilo Germano Muniz ◽  
Eduardo S. A. Santos
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Reproductive Potential ◽  
Female Size ◽  
Male Mate Choice ◽  
Male Size ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Male Preference ◽  
Female Quality ◽  
Male Mate

Male preference for high-quality females is expected to evolve when male reproductive potential is restricted. However, when there is competition among males, some models predict the evolution of assortative male mate choice, in which good competitors choose high quality females while poor competitors choose lower quality females to avoid competition. In Trichonephila clavipes spiders, males have limited sperm supply and fight for access to females. We tested whether female quality and male size (a proxy of fighting ability) influence male decisions in T. clavipes. We used field experiments in which males could choose among two available females in a scenario free of competition. We found that males choose their mates based on both female size and female recent pairing status (whether the female was accompanied by a male before the experiment). Importantly, male mate choice exhibited plasticity, and varied with male size, as large males preferred larger females that were recently unpaired, medium-sized males showed no preference, and small males preferred smaller, recently paired females. Because all females appear to attract males, we predict that variation on male mate choice attenuates sexual selection on females. Our findings confirm the prediction of variable male mate choice when there is male-male competition and male reproductive potential is restricted, a pattern that may be common, but hard to detect.

Some Males are Choosier Than Others: Species Recognition in Blue Waxbills

Behaviour ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 141 (8) ◽  
pp. 1021-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Selective Pressure ◽  
Species Recognition ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Female Size ◽  
Male Preference ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Male Mate ◽  
Species Specific

AbstractWe investigated whether species specific mating preferences differed between the sexes in three species of blue waxbill (genus Uraeginthus). We compared male preference for conspecific females versus heterospecific blue waxbill females using two-way choice trials. The results were compared with predictions of the strength of species specific mating preferences made on the basis of several different hypotheses. These predictions were made according to the specific behavioural and morphological traits of the three species, their phylogenetic relatedness and relative geographical location. Males did not prefer conspecific females whenever they were given a choice of a larger heterospecific female. Furthermore, males tended to discriminate between females more strongly when there was a large difference in size between the two species of females that they had been presented with. Relating the strength of males preference for conspecific females to the predictions made according to the different hypotheses it appeared that males were discriminating between females on the basis of their size. We compared male mate preferences for conspecifics versus heterospecifics with female mate preferences for conspecifics versus heterospecifics that had been ascertained in a previous study. There were marked differences between preference for conspecifics between the sexes for all three species, suggesting that males and females used different criteria to choose mates when discriminating between related species. Males appeared to use female size whereas females appeared to use the degree of male ornamentation, suggesting that mate preference is under a different selective pressure between the sexes. The results of this study have identified that there is a potential for hybridisation between blue breast females and both red cheek and blue cap males. In the event of a geographical change leading to sympatry between these species the degree of hybridisation will depend on the preference criteria within each species and the differences in morphology between those species. This will ultimately determine how discrimination between heterospecifics will interact with conspecific mate choice.

scholarly journals The measure and significance of Bateman's principles

2014 ◽  
Vol 281 (1782) ◽  
pp. 20132973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie M. Collet ◽  
Rebecca F. Dean ◽  
Kirsty Worley ◽  
David S. Richardson ◽  
Tommaso Pizzari
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Female Fecundity ◽  
Male Preference ◽  
Bateman Gradient ◽  
Red Junglefowl ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Paternity Share

Bateman's principles explain sex roles and sexual dimorphism through sex-specific variance in mating success, reproductive success and their relationships within sexes (Bateman gradients). Empirical tests of these principles, however, have come under intense scrutiny. Here, we experimentally show that in replicate groups of red junglefowl, Gallus gallus , mating and reproductive successes were more variable in males than in females, resulting in a steeper male Bateman gradient, consistent with Bateman's principles. However, we use novel quantitative techniques to reveal that current methods typically overestimate Bateman's principles because they (i) infer mating success indirectly from offspring parentage, and thus miss matings that fail to result in fertilization, and (ii) measure Bateman gradients through the univariate regression of reproductive over mating success, without considering the substantial influence of other components of male reproductive success, namely female fecundity and paternity share. We also find a significant female Bateman gradient but show that this likely emerges as spurious consequences of male preference for fecund females, emphasizing the need for experimental approaches to establish the causal relationship between reproductive and mating success. While providing qualitative support for Bateman's principles, our study demonstrates how current approaches can generate a misleading view of sex differences and roles.

scholarly journals Nocturnal mating behaviour and dynamic male investment of copulation time in the southern blue-ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena maculosa (Cephalopoda: Octopodidae)

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (14) ◽  
pp. 1883-1910 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Morse ◽  
Kyall R. Zenger ◽  
Mark I. McCormick ◽  
Mark G. Meekan ◽  
Christine L. Huffard
Keyword(s):  
Mating Systems ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Female Size ◽  
Male Size ◽  
Male Preference ◽  
Video Footage ◽  
Mating History ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Strategic Allocation ◽  
Do So

The southern blue-ringed octopus,Hapalochlaena maculosaHoyle (1883), is a nocturnal species that exhibits a mating system in which females hold sperm from multiple males over a one to two month breeding window before laying a single egg clutch. Contrary to most studied animal mating systems where anisogamy exists, gamete package production is limited for both males and females of this species (approx. 50 spermatophores/eggs). This presents an animal model for studying aspects of sperm competition and dynamic mate choice behaviours. The present study reports on the mating behaviour ofH. maculosaobserved under laboratory conditions using infrared closed-circuit television video footage. Rates of male copulation attempts increased with male size, while female receptivity to mating attempts increased with female size, resulting in larger animals of both sexes gaining more copulations and spending more time per day in copulation. There was some evidence of female preference of larger males, but no male preference of females based on measured morphological traits. Both sexes terminated copulations in equal frequencies but male-terminated copulations were significantly shorter in duration. Males were more likely to terminate copulation early with females they had previously mated with, however were less likely to do so if the female had recently mated with a different male. Among male-terminated copulations, males mated for longer with females that had previously mated with other males in the trial. Male–male mounts were as common as male–female mounts, suggesting that maleH. maculosaare not able to discriminate the sex of conspecifics. These findings suggest male strategic allocation of spermatophores based female mating history is an important factor influencing mating behaviours of this species.

Synthesis and Outlook

2021 ◽  
pp. 153-161
Author(s):  
Ingo Schlupp
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Empirical Work ◽  
Male Mate Choice ◽  
Female Ornamentation ◽  
Female Quality ◽  
Investment In Reproduction ◽  
Selection Research ◽  
Male Mate

In this final chapter I want to briefly recap what I presented in the previous chapters and provide a few ideas on what might be done in the future to move the field forward. All three factors I discussed as relevant in male mate choice—male investment in reproduction, sex ratios, and variability in partner quality—are still emerging fields in sexual selection research and need more theoretical and empirical work. I suggest that variability in female quality is more important and more complex than currently known. The same is true for sex ratios. On the other hand, I suggest that sheer investment in gametes may be a little less important than currently assumed. Most importantly we need to explore the interactions of these three pathways to male mate choice. Female competition and also female ornamentation are still somewhat enigmatic and both topics are likely to grow in importance for our understanding of sexual selection. I think considering male and female choice together, as well as female and male competition will ultimately provide a more complete picture of Darwinian sexual selection.

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