scholarly journals Female and male visually based mate preferences are consistent with reproductive isolation between populations of the Lake Malawi endemic Labeotropheus fuelleborni

2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Pauers ◽  
Timothy J. Ehlinger ◽  
Jeffrey S. McKinnon
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Courtship Behavior ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Lake Malawi ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Haplochromine Cichlids

Abstract Sexual selection via female mate choice is thought to have played a key role in the speciation of haplochromine cichlids, but a dominant role for visual signals in such processes has lately been called into question. In addition, the possible role of male mating preferences in haplochromine speciation has been little studied. We studied patterns of both female and male mate choice, based exclusively on visual signals, in order to evaluate potential reproductive isolation between two populations of the Lake Malawi haplochromine Labeotropheus fuelleborni. In the first experiment, females were allowed to choose between two males, one from the same population and the other allopatric with respect to the female. Females in this experiment responded more frequently to males from their own population. Similarly, the males in these trials displayed more frequently when presented with females of their own population. In the second experiment, a female was allowed to choose between two males, either both from her own population or both allopatric. In these trials, both males and females from the Katale population interacted significantly more frequently in settings in which all three individuals were from the same population (“same-population trios”), and those from the Chipoka population showed a similar trend. Thus, patterns in both male and female courtship behavior suggest that visual signals contribute to at least incipient reproductive isolation between populations of L. fuelleborni.

scholarly journals Segregation of Species-Specific Male Attractiveness in F2 Hybrid Lake Malawi Cichlid Fish

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ola Svensson ◽  
Bernd Egger ◽  
Boye Gricar ◽  
Katie Woodhouse ◽  
Cock van Oosterhout ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Genetic Model ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Lake Malawi ◽  
Paternity Analysis ◽  
Colour Pattern ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Species Specific

Among the huge radiations of haplochromine cichlid fish in Lakes Malawi and Victoria, closely related species are often reproductively isolated via female mate choice although viable fertile hybrids can be produced when females are confined only with heterospecific males. We generated F2 hybrid males from a cross between a pair of closely related sympatric cichlid fish from Lake Malawi. Laboratory mate choice experiments using microsatellite paternity analysis demonstrated that F2 hybrid males differed significantly in their attractiveness to females of the two parental species, indicating heritable variation in traits involved in mate choice that may contribute to reproductive isolation between these species. We found no significant correlation between male mating success and any measurement of male colour pattern. A simple quantitative genetic model of reproductive isolation suggests that there may be as few as two chromosomal regions controlling species-specific attractiveness. We propose that adaptive radiation of Lake Malawi cichlids could be facilitated by the presence of genes with major effects on mate choice and reproductive isolation.

Male Courtship Displays, Ornaments and Female Mate Choice in Captive Red Jungle Fowl

Behaviour ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 132 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 821-836 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torgeir S. Johnsen ◽  
Stacey L. Popma ◽  
Marlene Zuk
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Plasma Testosterone ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Male Courtship ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Red Jungle Fowl ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
Spur Length

AbstractWe studied the role of male courtship behaviour in female mate choice in red jungle fowl (Gallus gallus), the ancestor of domestic chickens. The traits most highly correlated with behavioural displays were those most relied upon by females in making mate choice decisions. These traits (comb length, comb colour, eye colour, and spur length) are highly condition-dependent in jungle fowl. Females chose males that displayed at a greater overall intensity in the period after the female was allowed to interact with the males (post-release), but were indifferent to displays during the period before the female could approach the roosters (pre-release). After accounting for the effect of morphology on mate choice, waltzes were the only display that explained a significant amount of variation in male mating success. Chosen and rejected males had different display rates even when the female was not present. Plasma testosterone level was correlated with pre-release behaviours, but not with post-release behaviours or mating success.

scholarly journals Coevolution of male and female mate choice can destabilize reproductive isolation

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Aubier ◽  
Hanna Kokko ◽  
Mathieu Joron
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Mate Choice ◽  
Premating Isolation ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Mutual Mate Choice ◽  
Male Mate

Abstract Sexual interactions play an important role in the evolution of reproductive isolation, with important consequences for speciation. Theoretical studies have focused on the evolution of mate preferences in each sex separately. However, mounting empirical evidence suggests that premating isolation often involves mutual mate choice. Here, using a population genetic model, we investigate how female and male mate choice coevolve under a phenotype matching rule and how this affects reproductive isolation. We show that the evolution of female preferences increases the mating success of males with reciprocal preferences, favouring mutual mate choice. However, the evolution of male preferences weakens indirect selection on female preferences and, with weak genetic drift, the coevolution of female and male mate choice leads to periodic episodes of random mating with increased hybridization (deterministic ‘preference cycling’ triggered by stochasticity). Thus, counterintuitively, the process of establishing premating isolation proves rather fragile if both male and female mate choice contribute to assortative mating.

scholarly journals Male coercion and the costs of promiscuous mating for female chimpanzees

2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1612) ◽  
pp. 1009-1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin N Muller ◽  
Sonya M Kahlenberg ◽  
Melissa Emery Thompson ◽  
Richard W Wrangham
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Pan Troglodytes ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Sexual Coercion ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Pan Troglodytes Schweinfurthii ◽  
Male Mating Success ◽  
Male Aggression

For reasons that are not yet clear, male aggression against females occurs frequently among primates with promiscuous mating systems. Here, we test the sexual coercion hypothesis that male aggression functions to constrain female mate choice. We use 10 years of behavioural and endocrine data from a community of wild chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii ) to show that sexual coercion is the probable primary function of male aggression against females. Specifically, we show that male aggression is targeted towards the most fecund females, is associated with high male mating success and is costly for the victims. Such aggression can be viewed as a counter-strategy to female attempts at paternity confusion, and a cost of multi-male mating.

Interplay of male traits, male mating strategies and female mate choice in the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 1113-1144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karpagam Chelliah ◽  
Raman Sukumar
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Asian Elephant ◽  
Dominant Male ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Male Mating Strategies

Elaborate male traits with no apparent adaptive value may have evolved through female mate discrimination. Tusks are an elaborate male-only trait in the Asian elephant that could potentially influence female mate choice. We examined the effect of male body size, tusk possession and musth status on female mate choice in an Asian elephant population. Large/musth males received positive responses from oestrous females towards courtship significantly more often than did small/non-musth males. Young, tusked non-musth males attempted courtship significantly more often than their tuskless peers, and received more positive responses (though statistically insignificant) than did tuskless males. A positive response did not necessarily translate into mating because of mate-guarding by a dominant male. Female elephants appear to choose mates based primarily on traits such as musth that signal direct fertility benefits through increased sperm received than for traits such as tusks that may signal only indirect fitness benefits.

scholarly journals Sexual selection on color and behavior within and between cichlid populations: Implications for speciation

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 475-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Pauers ◽  
Jeffrey S. Mckinnon
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Separate Experiment ◽  
Color Patterns ◽  
Male Behavior ◽  
Female Population ◽  
Different Color

Abstract Sexual selection is widely viewed as playing a central role in haplochromine cichlid speciation. Hypothetically, once divergent mate preferences evolve among populations of these fishes, reproductive isolation follows and the populations begin to behave as different species. Various studies have examined patterns of assortative mating among species and sometimes populations, but few have examined variation in directional preferences, especially among populations of the same species. We investigated mate choice behavior in two populations of Labeotropheus fuelleborni, a Lake Malawi endemic. We test whether mating preferences between populations are based on the same traits and in the same direction as preferences within populations. We examine the potential contributions of two classes of trait, color patterns and behaviors, to reproductive isolation. When females chose between either two males of their own population, or two from another, female preferences were generally similar (for the female population) across the two contexts. Mate choice patterns differed between (female) populations for a measure of color, but only modestly for male behavior. In a separate experiment we simultaneously offered females a male of their own population and a male from a different population. In these trials, females consistently preferred males from their own population, which were also the males that displayed more frequently than their opponents, but not necessarily those with color traits suggested to be most attractive in the previous experiment. Thus directional preferences for chroma and related aspects of color may be important when females are presented with males of otherwise similar phenotypes, but may play little role in mediating assortative mating among populations with substantially different color patterns. A preference for male behavior could play some role in speciation if males preferentially court same-population females, as we have observed for the populations studied herein.

scholarly journals Coevolution of male and female mate choice can destabilize reproductive isolation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas G. Aubier ◽  
Hanna Kokko ◽  
Mathieu Joron
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Mate Choice ◽  
Premating Isolation ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Mutual Mate Choice ◽  
Male Mate

AbstractSexual interactions play an important role in the evolution of reproductive isolation, with important consequences for speciation. Theoretical studies have focused on the evolution of mate preferences in each sex separately. However, mounting empirical evidence suggests that premating isolation often involves mutual mate choice. Here, using a population genetic model, we investigate how female and male mate choice coevolve under a phenotype matching rule and how this affects reproductive isolation. We show that the evolution of female preferences increases the mating success of males with reciprocal preferences, favouring mutual mate choice. However, the evolution of male preferences weakens indirect selection on female preferences and, with weak genetic drift, the coevolution of female and male mate choice leads to periodic episodes of random mating with increased hybridization (deterministic ‘preference cycling’ triggered by stochasticity). Thus, counterintuitively, the process of establishing premating isolation proves rather fragile if both male and female mate choice contribute to assortative mating.

scholarly journals Divergent Evolution of Male Aggressive Behaviour: Another Reproductive Isolation Barrier in Extremophile Poeciliid Fishes?

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bierbach ◽  
Moritz Klein ◽  
Vanessa Sassmannshausen ◽  
Ingo Schlupp ◽  
Rüdiger Riesch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Hydrogen Sulphide ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Aggressive Behaviour ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Divergent Evolution ◽  
Poecilia Mexicana ◽  
Spring Area

Reproductive isolation among locally adapted populations may arise when immigrants from foreign habitats are selected against via natural or (inter-)sexual selection (female mate choice). We asked whether also intrasexual selection through male-male competition could promote reproductive isolation among populations of poeciliid fishes that are locally adapted to extreme environmental conditions [i.e., darkness in caves and/or toxic hydrogen sulphide (H2S)]. We found strongly reduced aggressiveness in extremophile Poecilia mexicana, and darkness was the best predictor for the evolutionary reduction of aggressiveness, especially when combined with presence of H2S. We demonstrate that reduced aggression directly translates into migrant males being inferior when paired with males from nonsulphidic surface habitats. By contrast, the phylogenetically old sulphur-endemic P. sulphuraria from another sulphide spring area showed no overall reduced aggressiveness, possibly indicating evolved mechanisms to better cope with H2S.

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