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

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.

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Examples of Male Mate Choice

Male Choice, Female Competition, and Female Ornaments in Sexual Selection ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198818946.003.0003 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 53-80

Author(s):

Ingo Schlupp

Keyword(s):

Mate Choice ◽

Underlying Mechanism ◽

Male Mate Choice ◽

Male Choice ◽

Female Fecundity ◽

Female Quality ◽

Male Mate ◽

Different Levels

In this chapter, what interests me most is how often male mate choice has already been documented, independent of the underlying mechanism. I am not concerned with the origin of the description: some authors express some degree of surprise that they found male preferences; other studies are motivated by theory. I also want to highlight that there is a continuum from no male contribution to the offspring to male contributions that are larger than the female contribution. Furthermore, there are differences in female quality at different levels, which can contribute to the evolution of male choice. There are many studies that infer differences in female fecundity as underlying male choice, but females can differ in many more aspects—just like males.

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Male Choice, Female Competition, and Female Ornaments in Sexual Selection

10.1093/oso/9780198818946.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ingo Schlupp

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Mate Choice ◽

Sex Ratio ◽

Female Competition ◽

Male Mate Choice ◽

Male Choice ◽

Female Quality ◽

Female Ornaments ◽

Sexual Selection Theory ◽

Male Mate

When Darwin first proposed sexual selection theory he suggested two mechanisms: competition among males and choice by females. There is no doubt that these mechanisms are immensely important, but their mirror images have been largely underappreciated so far. In fact, males choose as well and females compete. Males choose based on female quality, often selecting mating partners that are more fecund. But male choice is also associated with changes in the sex ratio of a population and males can be choosy when they are rare. Furthermore, males sometimes invest heavily into reproduction and that too can be associated with male choice. That females compete with another, although less often with open aggression, is another understudied phenomenon. Finally, we now know that females are often ornamented, but are these ornaments under sexual selection by males? This book tries to review what we know and point to what we don’t know while pointing out the connections between male mate choice and female competition for a more complete view of sexual selection.

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Changes in male mate choice in a sexually cannibalistic orb-web spider (Araneae: Araneidae)

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/1568539042729676 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 141 (10) ◽

pp. 1197-1210 ◽

Cited By ~ 82

Author(s):

Mark Elgar ◽

Anne Gaskett ◽

Barbara Downes ◽

Marie Herberstein

Keyword(s):

Mate Choice ◽

Field Experiments ◽

Reproductive Status ◽

Male Mating ◽

Male Mate Choice ◽

Mating History ◽

Mating Opportunities ◽

Argiope Keyserlingi ◽

Orb Web ◽

Male Mate

AbstractIn theory, male mate choice should occur when the costs of copulation, in terms of future mating opportunities, are high. The criteria males use to choose mates may change depending upon male mating history and the potential for future matings. We examine male mate choice in the St. Andrew's Cross Spider (Argiope keyserlingi Araneae: Araneidae). Laboratory experiments revealed that death and injury caused by female sexual cannibalism limits males to a maximum of two copulations. We assessed the mate choices of virgin and mated males for females of different reproductive status. We used field and laboratory choice bioassays involving airborne and web-based pheromones. In field experiments, wild males were strongly attracted to webs built by laboratory-raised virgin females. Webs from mated females did not attract males. Male mate choice was affected by male reproductive status: while virgin males strongly preferred penultimate and virgin females to mated females, mated males were apparently indifferent to females of different mating status. Such post-copulatory changes in male mate choice have not been previously documented, and may reflect a decreased potential for future mating.

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Female and Male Mate Choice

Male Choice, Female Competition, and Female Ornaments in Sexual Selection ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198818946.003.0002 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 21-52

Author(s):

Ingo Schlupp

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Mate Choice ◽

Female Choice ◽

Complete Picture ◽

Male Mate Choice ◽

Indirect Benefits ◽

Short Overview ◽

Direct Benefits ◽

Male Mate

Females choose mating partners for three main reasons: direct benefits, indirect benefits, and compatibility, either genetic or social. In this chapter I am not trying to look at all angles of mate choice, but to give a short overview of female choice to provide a basis for a comparison with male choice. This will highlight what studies are needed to reach a more complete picture of sexual selection. I would summarize the chapter like this: it’s the ecology, stupid.

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Male mate choice and female fecundity in zebra finches

Animal Behaviour ◽

10.1006/anbe.2001.1843 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 62 (6) ◽

pp. 1021-1026 ◽

Cited By ~ 80

Author(s):

Katherine M. Jones ◽

Pat Monaghan ◽

Ruedi G. Nager

Keyword(s):

Mate Choice ◽

Male Mate Choice ◽

Zebra Finches ◽

Female Fecundity ◽

Male Mate

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Male mate choice based on female coloration in a lizard: the role of a juvenile trait

Behavioral Ecology ◽

10.1093/beheco/ary005 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 29 (3) ◽

pp. 543-552 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Josabel Belliure ◽

Belén Fresnillo ◽

José J Cuervo

Keyword(s):

Mate Choice ◽

Male Mate Choice ◽

Male Mate ◽

Female Coloration

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What Males Choose: Differences in Female Quality

Male Choice, Female Competition, and Female Ornaments in Sexual Selection ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198818946.003.0004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 81-96

Author(s):

Ingo Schlupp

Keyword(s):

Mate Choice ◽

Female Choice ◽

Male Mate Choice ◽

Male Quality ◽

Female Fecundity ◽

Indirect Benefits ◽

Female Quality ◽

Male Mate

In female choice, differences in male quality are very important. Males display to females to provide information often via costly ornaments. Females also differ in quality, but what they display to males is less clear. Also, how males evaluate differences in female quality is not well understood. From the literature on male mate choice one might conclude that female fecundity is the most important feature a female can display to a choosy male, but I argue that there must be many more features of females that are important in male mate choice, maybe even indirect benefits.

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The role of female dominance hierarchies in the mating behaviour of mosquitofish

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2010.1020 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 343-345 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Therese Chen ◽

Madeleine Beekman ◽

Ashley J. W. Ward

Keyword(s):

Mate Choice ◽

Mating Behaviour ◽

Dominance Rank ◽

Female Dominance ◽

Male Mating ◽

Female Size ◽

Male Mate Choice ◽

Dominance Hierarchies ◽

Male Mate

While studies of sexual selection focus primarily on female choice and male–male competition, males should also exert mate choice in order to maximize their reproductive success. We examined male mate choice in mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki , with respect to female size and female dominance. We found that the number of mating attempts made by a male was predicted by the dominance rank of females in a group, with dominant females attracting more mating attempts than subordinates. The number of mating attempts made by males was independent of the female size. The observed bias in the number of mating attempts towards dominant females may be driven either by straightforward male mate choice, since dominance and female fecundity are often closely related, or via the dominant females mediating male mating behaviour by restricting their access to subordinate females.

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

10.32942/osf.io/g3s4n ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

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.

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