scholarly journals Potential female mate choice in a male dominated system: the female capybara, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 718-732
Author(s):  
Miguel A Bedoya-Pérez ◽  
Emilio A Herrera ◽  
Elizabeth R Congdon
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Sexual Size Dimorphism ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Scent Gland ◽  
Female Behavior ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Hydrochoerus Hydrochaeris ◽  
The Social ◽  
Preferential Access

Abstract Capybaras, Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris (Rodentia: Caviidae: Hydrochoerinae), show a strict social hierarchy among males, wherein the top-ranking male gains preferential access to females. Despite minimal sexual size dimorphism, males have a prominent scent gland on their snouts that is greatly reduced in the females. Top-ranking males have a larger gland and mark more frequently than subordinate males. This species also shows a moderately complex courtship that seems to be modulated by female behavior. In this study, we evaluated several components of courtship, as well as the females’ interactions with males during and outside courtship, in relation to the hierarchy rank of males. We found that subordinate males engaged in longer courtships than top-ranking males. However, there was no difference in the number of mount attempts or the success rate of these mounts as a function of the social status of the male, despite the longer courtship performed by subordinate males in comparison to top-ranking males. Outside courtship, females directed the same number of social interactions to males regardless of status. However, during courtship, females avoided copulation by subordinate males both directly and indirectly by encouraging courtship disruption by higher-ranking males. Females’ avoidance of subordinates may force these males to invest a higher amount of effort in courtships, thus engaging in longer courtships, yet achieving similar mount success as top-ranking males. We show that the original assumption of male hierarchy as the main mechanism of reproductive distribution is incomplete, and female mate choice plays an important role in determining which males reproduce.

scholarly journals Context-dependent female mate choice maintains variation in male sexual activity

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 170303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolin Sommer-Trembo ◽  
Martin Plath ◽  
Jakob Gismann ◽  
Claudia Helfrich ◽  
David Bierbach
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Activity ◽  
Balancing Selection ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Sexually Active ◽  
Male Harassment ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
The Social ◽  
Choice Tests ◽  
Context Dependent

The existence of individual variation in males' motivation to mate remains a conundrum as directional selection should favour high mating frequencies. Balancing selection resulting from (context-dependent) female mate choice could contribute to the maintenance of this behavioural polymorphism. In dichotomous choice tests, mosquitofish ( Gambusia holbrooki ) females preferred virtual males showing intermediate mating frequencies, reflecting females' tendencies to avoid harassment by highly sexually active males. When tested in the presence of a female shoal—which protects females from male harassment—focal females showed significantly stronger preferences for high sexual activity. A trade-off between (indirect) benefits and (direct) costs of mating with sexually active males probably explains context-dependent female mate choice, as costs depend on the social environment in which females choose their mates. No preference was observed when we tested virgin females, suggesting that the behavioural pattern described here is part of the learned behavioural repertoire of G. holbrooki females.

Female Choice in Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warbler (Locustella Ochotensis)

The Auk ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisashi Nagata
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Food Abundance ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Grasshopper Warbler

Abstract Morphological and territorial factors that influence female mate choice were examined in the monogamous Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warbler (Locustella ochotensis) on an islet near Fukuoka, Japan. I assumed that pairing date corresponded with female mate choice. Pairing date was correlated with both territory size and food abundance but was not correlated with selected morphological characteristics of males. Territorial quality was assumed to be correlated with territory size because preferable food resources and nest sites were distributed randomly. I conclude that female mate choice was influenced by territory quality rather than by the morphological characteristics of males.

scholarly journals The fruitless gene affects female receptivity and species isolation

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1923) ◽  
pp. 20192765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tabashir Chowdhury ◽  
Ryan M. Calhoun ◽  
Katrina Bruch ◽  
Amanda J. Moehring
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Sensory Modality ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Neural Basis ◽  
Female Receptivity ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Multiple Transcripts ◽  
Female Behaviour ◽  
Substrate Vibrations

Female mate rejection acts as a major selective force within species, and can serve as a reproductive barrier between species. In spite of its critical role in fitness and reproduction, surprisingly little is known about the genetic or neural basis of variation in female mate choice. Here, we identify fruitless as a gene affecting female receptivity within Drosophila melanogaster , as well as female Drosophila simulans rejection of male D. melanogaster . Of the multiple transcripts this gene produces, by far the most widely studied is the sex-specifically spliced transcript involved in the sex determination pathway. However, we find that female rejection behaviour is affected by a non-sex-specifically spliced fruitless transcript. This is the first implication of fruitless in female behaviour, and the first behavioural role identified for a fruitless non-sex-specifically spliced transcript. We found that this locus does not influence preferences via a single sensory modality, examining courtship song, antennal pheromone perception, or perception of substrate vibrations, and we conclude that fruitless influences mate choice via the integration of multiple signals or through another sensory modality.

scholarly journals Female butterflies prefer males bearing bright iridescent ornamentation

2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1613) ◽  
pp. 1043-1047 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darrell J Kemp
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Driving Force ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Sex Recognition ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Wing Colour ◽  
Enclosure Experiments ◽  
Colour Patterns

Butterflies are among nature's most colourful animals, and provide a living showcase for how extremely bright, chromatic and iridescent coloration can be generated by complex optical mechanisms. The gross characteristics of male butterfly colour patterns are understood to function for species and/or sex recognition, but it is not known whether female mate choice promotes visual exaggeration of this coloration. Here I show that females of the sexually dichromatic species Hypolimnas bolina prefer conspecific males that possess bright iridescent blue/ultraviolet dorsal ornamentation. In separate field and enclosure experiments, using both dramatic and graded wing colour manipulations, I demonstrate that a moderate qualitative reduction in signal brightness and chromaticity has the same consequences as removing the signal entirely. These findings validate a long-held hypothesis, and argue for the importance of intra- versus interspecific selection as the driving force behind the exaggeration of bright, iridescent butterfly colour patterns.

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.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document