scholarly journals Endocrine correlates of mate choice and promiscuity in females of a socially monogamous avian mating system with alternative male reproductive phenotypes

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (6) ◽  
pp. 804-815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert Schwabl ◽  
Willow R. Lindsay ◽  
Douglas G. Barron ◽  
Michael S. Webster
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Mate Selection ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Reproductive Stage ◽  
Discrete Variation ◽  
Socially Monogamous ◽  
Malurus Melanocephalus ◽  
Female Investment

Abstract While our understanding of male reproductive strategies is informed by extensive investigations into endocrine mechanisms, the proximate mechanisms by which females compete for mates and adjust reproduction to social environment remains enigmatic. We set out to uncover endocrine correlates of mate choice, social environment, and reproductive investment in female red-backed fairy-wrens Malurus melanocephalus. In this socially monogamous, yet highly sexually promiscuous species, females experience discrete variation in the phenotype of their mates, which vary in both plumage signals and level of paternal care, and in the composition of their breeding groups, which consist of either the pair alone or with an additional cooperative auxiliary; female investment varies according to these social parameters. We found that androgen, estrogen, and glucorticoid levels varied with reproductive stage, with highest androgen and estrogen concentrations during nest construction and highest corticosterone concentrations during the pre-breeding stage. These stage-dependent patterns did not vary with male phenotype or auxiliary presence, though androgen levels during pre-breeding mate selection were lower in females obtaining red/black mates than those obtaining brown mates. We found no evidence that androgen, estrogen, or corticosterone levels during the fertile period were related to extra-pair young (EPY) frequency. This study demonstrates clear changes in steroid levels with reproductive stage, though it found little support for variation with social environment. We suggest hormonal responsiveness to social factors may be physiologically constrained in ways that are bypassed through exogenous hormone manipulations.

scholarly journals Constrained mate choice in social monogamy and the stress of having an unattractive partner

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1719) ◽  
pp. 2798-2805 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon C. Griffith ◽  
Sarah R. Pryke ◽  
William A. Buttemer
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Elevated Level ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Local Population ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Social Partner ◽  
Social Monogamy ◽  
Socially Monogamous ◽  
Experimental Introduction

In socially monogamous animals, mate choice is constrained by the availability of unpaired individuals in the local population. Here, we experimentally investigate the physiological stress endured by a female (the choosy sex) when pairing with a non-preferred social partner. In two experimental contexts, female Gouldian finches ( Erythrura gouldiae ) socially paired with poor-quality mates had levels of circulating corticosterone that were three to four times higher than those observed in females that were paired with preferred mates. The elevated level of this stress hormone in response to partner quality was observed within 12 h of the experimental introduction and maintained over a period of several weeks. Our findings demonstrate the extent of intra-individual conflict that occurs when individuals are forced to make mate-choice decisions that are not perfectly aligned with mate-choice preferences. The elevated level of corticosterone also suggests a mechanistic route through which females might adaptively manage their responses to intersexual conflict over reproductive investment.

scholarly journals No male mate choice for female boldness in a bi-parental West African cichlid, the rainbow krib (Pelvicachromis pulcher)

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulrike Scherer ◽  
Wiebke Schuett
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Species ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
West African ◽  
Choice Test ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Male Mate Choice ◽  
African Cichlid ◽  
Personality Differences ◽  
Male Mate

Background In many species, males have a lower reproductive investment than females and are therefore assumed to increase their fitness with a high number of matings rather than by being choosy. However, in bi-parental species, also males heavily invest into reproduction. Here, reproductive success largely depends on costly parental care; with style and amount of parental effort in several cases being associated with personality differences (i.e., consistent between-individual differences in behaviour). Nonetheless, very little is known about the effect of personality differences on (male) mate choice in bi-parental species. Methods In the present study, we tested male mate choice for the level and consistency of female boldness in the rainbow krib, Pelviachromis pulcher, a bi-parental and territorial West African cichlid. Individual boldness was assumed to indicate parental quality because it affects parental defence behaviour. For all males and females, boldness was assessed twice as the activity under simulated predation risk. Mate choice trials were conducted in two steps. First, we let a male observe two females expressing their boldness. Then, the male could choose between these two females in a standard mate choice test. Results We tested for a male preference for behavioural (dis-)similarity vs. a directional preference for boldness but our data support the absence of effects of male and/or female boldness (level and consistency) on male mating preference. Discussion Our results suggest female personality differences in boldness may not be selected for via male mate choice.

Variation III: Social Environment and Epigenetics

Mate Choice ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gil G. Rosenthal
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Horizontal Transmission ◽  
Epigenetic Modifications ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Sources Of Variation ◽  
Sexually Mature

This chapter focuses on social interactions, in the broadest sense, as sources of variation in mate choice and mating preferences. These interactions can be divided into three categories corresponding to when they are specified and which individuals are involved. The first includes effects that are determined before birth and transmitted vertically from parents: epigenetic modifications to the genome and the fetal or embryonic environment. The second includes influences between birth and sexual maturity, when the phenotypes of parents and/or other sexually mature, older individuals (oblique transmission) direct the development of preferences in choosers. Experience with courters and choosers after sexual maturity, or experience with other juveniles that shapes subsequent preferences, constitutes peer (horizontal) transmission.

Male Investment and Male Choice

2021 ◽  
pp. 97-108
Author(s):  
Ingo Schlupp
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sex Roles ◽  
Male Mate Choice ◽  
Male Choice ◽  
Male Investment ◽  
Female Investment ◽  
Male Mate

In this short chapter I revisit the role that male investment might play in the evolution of male mate choice. Simply put, one might expect with more male investment into reproduction, they may be more selective about with whom they mate. If the male investment is larger than the female investment sex roles are expected to flip. This is, however, not common. But even if males almost never invest as much or more than females, in many species they do invest somewhat, or even heavily. Should this lead to choosiness in males? I will provide a few examples where choosiness may be linked to investment in males.

Show me you care: female mate choice based on egg attendance rather than male or territorial traits

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1054-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar ◽  
Kelly R Zamudio ◽  
Célio F B Haddad ◽  
Steve M Bogdanowicz ◽  
Cynthia P A Prado
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Female Mate

Abstract Female mate choice is often based on male traits, including signals or behaviors, and/or the quality of a male’s territory. In species with obligate paternal care, where care directly affects offspring survival, females may also base their mate choices on the quality of a sire’s care. Here, we quantified male reproductive success in a natural population of the glass frog Hyalinobatrachium cappellei, a species with male parental care, to determine the influence of territory quality, male traits, and paternal care behaviors on female mate choice. We found that attending males have a higher chance of gaining new clutches than nonattending males. Our results indicate that females do not select males based only on body condition, calling persistence, or territory traits. Instead, our findings support the hypothesis that females choose males based on care status. Indeed, males already attending a clutch were 70% more likely to obtain another clutch, and the time to acquire an additional clutch was significantly shorter. We also found that males adjust their parental care effort in response to genetic relatedness by caring only for their own offspring; however, remaining close to unrelated clutches serves as a strategy to attract females and increase chances of successful mating. Thus, males that establish territories that already contain clutches benefit from the signal eggs provide to females.

scholarly journals Major histocompatibility complex-associated odour preferences and human mate choice: near and far horizons

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1800) ◽  
pp. 20190260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Havlíček ◽  
Jamie Winternitz ◽  
S. Craig Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Major Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Relationship Satisfaction ◽  
Mate Selection ◽  
Adaptive Immune System ◽  
Mate Preferences ◽  
Olfactory Communication ◽  
Major Histocompatibility ◽  
Histocompatibility Complex ◽  
Meta Analyses

The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) is a core part of the adaptive immune system. As in other vertebrate taxa, it may also affect human chemical communication via odour-based mate preferences, with greater attraction towards MHC-dissimilar partners. However, despite some well-known findings, the available evidence is equivocal and made complicated by varied approaches to quantifying human mate choice. To address this, we here conduct comprehensive meta-analyses focusing on studies assessing: (i) genomic mate selection, (ii) relationship satisfaction, (iii) odour preference, and (iv) all studies combined. Analysis of genomic studies reveals no association between MHC-dissimilarity and mate choice in actual couples; however, MHC effects appear to be independent of the genomic background. The effect of MHC-dissimilarity on relationship satisfaction was not significant, and we found evidence for publication bias in studies on this area. There was also no significant association between MHC-dissimilarity and odour preferences. Finally, combining effect sizes from all genomic, relationship satisfaction, odour preference and previous mate choice studies into an overall estimate showed no overall significant effect of MHC-similarity on human mate selection. Based on these findings, we make a set of recommendations for future studies, focusing both on aspects that should be implemented immediately and those that lurk on the far horizon. We need larger samples with greater geographical and cultural diversity that control for genome-wide similarity. We also need more focus on mechanisms of MHC-associated odour preferences and on MHC-associated pregnancy loss. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Olfactory communication in humans’.

scholarly journals Carotenoids, oxidative stress and female mating preference for longer lived males

2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1618) ◽  
pp. 1591-1596 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W Pike ◽  
Jonathan D Blount ◽  
Bjørn Bjerkeng ◽  
Jan Lindström ◽  
Neil B Metcalfe
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Mating Preference ◽  
Implicit Assumption ◽  
Sexual Ornaments ◽  
Sexual Ornament ◽  
Breeding Attempt ◽  
Rate Of Ageing

Some of the most spectacular exaggerated sexual ornaments are carotenoid dependent. It has been suggested that such ornaments have evolved because carotenoid pigments are limiting for both signal expression and in their role as antioxidants and immunostimulants. An implicit assumption of this hypothesis is that males which can afford to produce more elaborate carotenoid-dependent displays are signalling their enhanced ability to resist parasites, disease or oxidative stress and hence would be predicted to live longer. Therefore, in species with carotenoid-dependent ornaments where a parent's future longevity is crucial for determining offspring survival, there should be a mating preference for partners that present the lowest risk of mortality during the breeding attempt, as signalled by the ability to allocate carotenoids to sexual displays. In an experimental study using three-spined sticklebacks ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ), we show that when dietary carotenoid intake is limited, males attempt to maintain their sexual ornament at the expense of body carotenoids and hence suffer from reduced reproductive investment and a shorter lifespan. These males also suffer from an increased susceptibility to oxidative stress, suggesting that this may constitute the mechanism underlying the increased rate of ageing. Furthermore, in pairwise mate-choice trials, females preferred males that had a greater access to carotenoids and chance of surviving the breeding season, suggesting that females can make adaptive mate choice decisions based on a male's carotenoid status and potential future longevity.

scholarly journals Fitness Benefits of Mate Choice for Compatibility in a Socially Monogamous Species

PLoS Biology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. e1002248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Malika Ihle ◽  
Bart Kempenaers ◽  
Wolfgang Forstmeier
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Monogamous Species ◽  
Socially Monogamous ◽  
Fitness Benefits

scholarly journals Effect of mate size on maternal reproductive effort in the convict cichlid Amatitlania siquia

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley R. Robart
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Standard Length ◽  
Reproductive Investment ◽  
Differential Allocation ◽  
Mate Quality ◽  
Convict Cichlids ◽  
Male Care ◽  
Female Investment ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Amatitlania Siquia

Abstract The differential allocation hypothesis predicts individuals will increase their reproductive investment when mated to a high quality partner. In many species of fish with biparental care females prefer large males due to the males’ greater ability to raise more offspring to independence. I examined the relationship between mate quality, parental care and number of offspring in a natural population of convict cichlids Amatitlania siquia. The frequency of frontal displays by females was positively correlated with male standard length. Additionally, as males increased in length relative to their mate, females increased the frequency of chases towards predators, while males decreased the number of displays towards brood predators. This trade-off in parental effort within a pair due to mate quality is a key prediction of differential allocation. The number of offspring was correlated with male, but not female, standard length. These results support the differential allocation hypothesis in that females offered more parental care to offspring of a larger male, while their mates decreased the amount of care they provided. Additionally, females benefited in terms of number of offspring by pairing with higher quality mates. Increased female investment may provide an incentive to ensure male care and maintain pair bonding, which could lead to greater reproductive success through increased offspring survival.

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