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.

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 Male-male interactions select for conspicuous male colouration in damselflies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md Kawsar Khan ◽  
Marie E. Herberstein
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Sexual Maturity ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Female Mate Preference ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Juvenile Males ◽  
First Time

AbstractMale ornamentation, such as conspicuous male colouration, can evolve through female mate choice. Alternatively, in species without overt female mate preference, conspicuous male colouration can evolve via intrasexual selection to resolve male-male competition or to prevent costly male-male mating attempts. Here, we investigated the drivers of conspicuous male colouration in an ontogenetic colour changing damselfly, Xanthagrion erythroneurum, where the juvenile males are yellow and change colour to red upon sexual maturity. We first showed that red males were chromatically and achromatically more conspicuous than the yellow males. We then quantified the condition of the males and showed that red males were larger and in better condition than yellow males. We tested female preference in a choice experiment where we artificially manipulated male colour, and found that females did not choose mates based on male colouration. We further tested whether the male colouration affected male-male interactions. We presented red and yellow males in the breeding arena, and found that red males received less intra- and interspecific aggression than yellow males. Our study experimentally showed, for the first time, that male conspicuousness is not a target of female mate choice in damselflies. Intra- and interspecific male-male interactions therefore appear to be the driver of conspicuous male colouration in damselflies.

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.

scholarly journals Looking for sexual selection in the female brain

2012 ◽  
Vol 367 (1600) ◽  
pp. 2348-2356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Molly E. Cummings
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Choice Behaviour ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Preference Responses ◽  
Preference Behaviour

Female mate choice behaviour has significant evolutionary consequences, yet its mechanistic origins are not fully understood. Recent studies of female sensory systems have made great strides in identifying internal mechanisms governing female preferences. Only recently, however, have we begun to identify the dynamic genomic response associated with mate choice behaviour. Poeciliids provide a powerful comparative system to examine genomic responses governing mate choice and female preference behaviour, given the great range of mating systems: from female mate choice taxa with ornamental courting males to species lacking male ornamentation and exhibiting only male coercion. Furthermore, they exhibit laboratory-tractable preference responses without sexual contact that are decoupled from reproductive state, allowing investigators to isolate mechanisms in the brain without physiological confounds. Early investigations with poeciliid species ( Xiphophorus nigrensis and Gambusia affinis ) have identified putative candidate genes associated with female preference response and highlight a possible genomic pathway underlying female social interactions with males linked functionally with synaptic plasticity and learning processes. This network is positively correlated with female preference behaviour in the female mate choice species, but appears inhibited in the male coercive species. This behavioural genomics approach provides opportunity to elucidate the fundamental building blocks, and evolutionary dynamics, of sexual selection.

Female mate choice for paternal care behaviour in African striped mice Rhabdomys pumilio: the role of experience

Behaviour ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 147 (9) ◽  
pp. 1101-1119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neville Pillay ◽  
Tasmin Rymer
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Care Quality ◽  
Care Experience ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Levels Of Care ◽  
Rhabdomys Pumilio ◽  
Fitness Benefits

AbstractPaternal care is a behavioural characteristic that can be selected for by females. By preferentially mating with 'good' fathers, females may directly increase their own reproductive success and may indirectly increase the prevalence of this trait in their sons. We investigated female mate choice in naturally paternal desert-dwelling African striped mice Rhabdomys pumilio. In two-way choice tests, we presented females with olfactory cues from males differing in levels of paternal care quality, paternal care experience, or mating experience. We predicted that females would prefer: (i) males showing higher levels of care; (ii) paternally experienced over paternally naïve males; and (iii) sexually experienced over sexually naïve males. Females did not distinguish between males of differing paternal care quality or paternal care experience, but maternally experienced females showed a preference for sexually experienced over sexually naïve males. Females may prefer sexually experienced males because these males are able to defend territories for breeding. We conclude that paternal care is selectively advantageous because of its apparent fitness benefits. Nonetheless, our study shows that paternal care has evolved independently of female choice in striped mice, since females did not choose between males of differing paternal care abilities.

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.

Colourful males hold high quality territories but exhibit reduced paternal care in barn swallows

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (5) ◽  
pp. 591-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaru Hasegawa ◽  
Emi Arai ◽  
Mamoru Watanabe ◽  
Masahiko Nakamura
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Feeding Rate ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Barn Swallows

The European barn swallow, Hirundo rustica rustica, is a model system of female mate choice for indirect benefits. Its long tail, which is the target of female mate choice, is positively related to the genetic quality of males, whereas direct benefits in terms of territory quality and paternal care are unimportant in the choice of long-tailed males. However, the situation may differ in other subspecies where male ornaments other than tail length are elaborate and appear to be the main target of female choice. Here we studied whether throat colouration, a sexually selected trait, provides direct benefits in terms of territory quality and parental care in a population of Japanese barn swallows, H. r. gutturalis, which have short tails and large throat patches. We compared dyads of males occupying neighbouring territories to study the relationship between male ornamentation and territory quality in our sparse population. Males with higher quality territories had more colourful throat patches than males with lower quality territories, indicating a positive relationship between male throat colouration and the quality of their territory. In contrast, male feeding rate decreased with increasing colourfulness of male throat patch without confounding with female feeding rate. These results are consistent with previous studies showing a positive association between plumage colouration and testosterone levels. The trade-off between the two direct benefits of mate choice, i.e., territory quality and paternal care, can explain sexual selection for colourful throat patches rather than long tails in our sparse outdoor population, a typical breeding habitat in Japan, whereas it predicts a reverse pattern in dense indoor populations as found in Europe.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document