Polymorphism, mate choice and sexual selection in the Gouldian finch (Erythrura gouldiae)

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 125 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Fox ◽  
C. N. Johnson ◽  
R. Brooks ◽  
M. J. Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Weak Evidence ◽  
The Face ◽  
Gouldian Finch ◽  
Colour Morphs ◽  
Male Morphology

Mate choice can result in both assortative mating and directional sexual selection, but few studies have addressed both processes simultaneously. Here we test several hypotheses regarding the possible role of female mate choice in maintaining the face-colour polymorphism of, and affecting directional sexual selection in, the Gouldian finch. These endangered Australian finches are highly sexually dimorphic and are genetically polymorphic for face colour: there are black-, red- and gold-faced individuals. First we showed that Gouldian finches tend to pair positive-assortatively by face colour morph in aviaries. In a laboratory experiment, we tested whether female mate choice is assortative by face colour. Overall, females neither preferred males of the same or of different face colour morphs as themselves. We found weak evidence for positive assortative female choice at one of the two loci involved in determining face colour. Next, we tested whether females showed frequency-dependent mate choice, and found that they preferred neither rare nor common male morphs. In order to test for directional sexual selection on males by female mate choice, we examined the correlations between male morphological traits and attractiveness to females. We found that tail pin length and bill size are correlated with male attractiveness, and may be under sexual selection. Thus, whilst female mate choice may be an important process in determining the evolution of male morphology, and potentially sexual dimorphism, it does not appear to be the primary force behind the assortative mating pattern among the face colour morphs.

Sexual selection in Japanese macaques I: female mate choice or male sexual coercion?

1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (3) ◽  
pp. 725-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSEPH SOLTIS ◽  
FUSAKO MITSUNAGA ◽  
KEIKO SHIMIZU ◽  
YOSHIMI YANAGIHARA ◽  
MASUMI NOZAKI
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Coercion ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Japanese Macaques ◽  
Female Mate

Sexual Selection and Sexual Conflict in Crustaceans

2020 ◽  
pp. 305-331
Author(s):  
Rickey Cothran
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Sensory Structures ◽  
Context Shapes

Research using crustaceans has improved the understanding of sexual selection and sexual conflict. This is particularly true for understanding the biology of male weaponry and sexual conflict over mate guarding. Male crustaceans often are equipped with exaggerated claws that they use to monopolize access to females or resources that females use for reproduction. However, these weapons are often used in other contexts, e.g. mate choice and coercion of females, and understanding their evolution requires a broader perspective of how these traits are built and the fitness consequences of their use for both the bearer and interacting individuals. Although less well studied than male weaponry, crustaceans also provide excellent examples of elaborate sensory structures that are used in scramble competition among males for females. In addition to studies on male-male competition, crustaceans have been well represented in research on intrasexual selection (for the most part, female mate choice). Crustacean females use a variety of sensory channels to assess mates, and a challenge is to better understand what is being conveyed by signaling males and the fitness consequences of mate choice for females. In some cases the female’s sensory system appears to be exploited by males, and this could lead to sexual conflict over mating. Research on crustaceans has also informed the understanding of sexual conflict over mate guarding, including the evolution of traits used to resolve conflict and how the ecological context shapes the costs and benefits of guarding for both sexes.

scholarly journals Turgid female toads give males the slip: a new mechanism of female mate choice in the Anura

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bas Bruning ◽  
Benjamin L. Phillips ◽  
Richard Shine
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
The Body ◽  
Cane Toad ◽  
Evolutionary Pattern ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Strong Selection ◽  
Anuran Species ◽  
Rival Male

In many anuran species, males vocalize to attract females but will grasp any female that comes within reach and retain their hold unless displaced by a rival male. Thus, female anurans may face strong selection to repel unwanted suitors, but no mechanism is known for doing so. We suggest that a defensive trait (the ability to inflate the body to ward off attack) has been co-opted for this role: by inflating their bodies, females are more difficult for males to grasp and hence, it is easier for another male to displace an already amplexed rival. Inflating a model female cane toad ( Bufo marinus ) strongly reduced a male's ability to maintain amplexus; and females who were experimentally prevented from inflating their bodies experienced no successful takeovers from rival males, in contrast to control females. Thus, the ability of a female cane toad to inflate her body may allow her to manipulate the outcome of male–male competition. This overlooked mechanism of anuran mate choice may reflect a common evolutionary pattern, whereby females co-opt defensive traits for use in sexual selection.

scholarly journals Sexual selection of male parental care in giant water bugs

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 150720 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shin-ya Ohba ◽  
Noboru Okuda ◽  
Shin-ichi Kudo
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Female Mate Preference ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Water Bugs ◽  
Selection Of

Paternal care can be maintained under sexual selection, if it helps in attracting more mates. We tested the hypothesis in two giant water bug species, Appasus major and Appasus japonicus , that male parental care is sexually selected through female preference for caring males. Females were given an opportunity to choose between two males. In the first test of female mate choice, one male carried eggs on its back, while the other did not. The egg status was switched between these two males in the second test. The experiment revealed that females of both species preferred caring males (i.e. egg-bearing) to non-caring males. Nonetheless, the female mate preference for egg-bearing males was stronger in A. major than in A. japonicus . Our results suggest that sexual selection plays an important role in maintaining elaborate paternal care in giant water bugs, but the importance of egg-bearing by males in female mate choice varies among species.

scholarly journals Ultraviolet nuptial colour determines fight success in male European green lizards ( Lacerta viridis )

2011 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 866-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katalin Bajer ◽  
Orsolya Molnár ◽  
János Török ◽  
Gábor Herczeg
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Central Theme ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Honest Signals ◽  
Lacerta Viridis ◽  
Uv Coloration ◽  
Colour Signals

Animal communication through colour signals is a central theme in sexual selection. Structural colours can be just as costly and honest signals as pigment-based colours. Ultraviolet (UV) is a structural colour that can be important both in intrasexual competition and mate choice. However, it is still unknown if a UV signal alone can determine the outcome of male–male fights. European green lizard ( Lacerta viridis ) males develop a nuptial throat coloration with a strong UV component. Among males differing only in their manipulated UV colour, females prefer males with higher UV. Here, we experimentally decreased the UV coloration of randomly chosen males from otherwise similar male pairs to test the hypothesis that a difference in UV colour alone can affect fight success during male–male competition. Our results fully supported the hypotheses: in almost 90 per cent of the contests the male with reduced UV lost the fight. Our results show that UV can be an important signal, affecting both female mate choice and determining male fight success.

scholarly journals Differences in male coloration are predicted by divergent sexual selection between populations of a cichlid fish

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1830) ◽  
pp. 20160172 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. M. Selz ◽  
R. Thommen ◽  
M. E. R. Pierotti ◽  
J. M. Anaya-Rojas ◽  
O. Seehausen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Female Mating ◽  
Female Mating Preferences ◽  
Male Coloration

Female mating preferences can influence both intraspecific sexual selection and interspecific reproductive isolation, and have therefore been proposed to play a central role in speciation. Here, we investigate experimentally in the African cichlid fish Pundamilia nyererei if differences in male coloration between three para-allopatric populations (i.e. island populations with gene flow) of P. nyererei are predicted by differences in sexual selection by female mate choice between populations . Second, we investigate if female mating preferences are based on the same components of male coloration and go in the same direction when females choose among males of their own population, their own and other conspecific populations and a closely related para-allopatric sister-species, P. igneopinnis . Mate-choice experiments revealed that females of the three populations mated species-assortatively, that populations varied in their extent of population-assortative mating and that females chose among males of their own population based on different male colours. Females of different populations exerted directional intrapopulation sexual selection on different male colours, and these differences corresponded in two of the populations to the observed differences in male coloration between the populations. Our results suggest that differences in male coloration between populations of P. nyererei can be explained by divergent sexual selection and that population-assortative mating may directly result from intrapopulation sexual selection.

scholarly journals Does divergence in female mate choice affect male size distributions in two cave fish populations?

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 452-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Tobler ◽  
Ingo Schlupp ◽  
Martin Plath
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Large Male ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Male Size ◽  
Female Mate

Sexual selection by female choice can maintain male traits that are counter selected by natural selection. Alteration of the potential for sexual selection can thus lead to shifts in the expression of male traits. We investigated female mate choice for large male body size in a fish ( Poecilia mexicana ) that, besides surface streams, also inhabits two caves. All four populations investigated, exhibited an ancestral visual preference for large males. However, only one of the cave populations also expressed this female preference in darkness. Hence, the lack of expression of female preference in darkness in the other cave population leads to relaxation of sexual selection for large male body size. While P. mexicana populations with size-specific female mate choice are characterized by a pronounced male size variation, the absence of female choice in one cave coincides with the absence of large bodied males in that population. Our results suggest that population differences in the potential for sexual selection may affect male trait variation.

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