scholarly journals The role of ecological variation in driving divergence of sexual and non-sexual traits in the red-backed fairy-wren (Malurus melanocephalus)

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T Baldassarre ◽  
Henri A Thomassen ◽  
Jordan Karubian ◽  
Michael S Webster
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Variation ◽  
Malurus Melanocephalus ◽  
Sexual Traits

scholarly journals Within-generation and transgenerational plasticity of mate choice in oceanic stickleback under climate change

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1768) ◽  
pp. 20180183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Fuxjäger ◽  
Sylvia Wanzenböck ◽  
Eva Ringler ◽  
K. Mathias Wegner ◽  
Harald Ahnelt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Ocean Warming ◽  
Acclimation Temperature ◽  
Transgenerational Plasticity ◽  
Developmental Temperature ◽  
Sexual Traits

Plasticity, both within and across generations, can shape sexual traits involved in mate choice and reproductive success, and thus direct measures of fitness. Especially, transgenerational plasticity (TGP), where parental environment influences offspring plasticity in future environments, could compensate for otherwise negative effects of environmental change on offspring sexual traits. We conducted a mate choice experiment using stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) with different thermal histories (ambient 17°C or elevated 21°C) within and across generations under simulated ocean warming using outdoor mesocosms. Parentage analysis of egg clutches revealed that maternal developmental temperature and reproductive (mesocosm) environment affected egg size, with females that developed at 17°C laying smaller eggs in 21°C mesocosms, likely owing to metabolic costs at elevated temperature. Paternal developmental temperature interacted with the reproductive environment to influence mating success, particularly under simulated ocean warming, with males that developed at 21°C showing lower overall mating success compared with 17°C males, but higher mating success in 21°C mesocosms. Furthermore, mating success of males was influenced by the interaction between F1 developmental temperature and F0 parent acclimation temperature, demonstrating the potential role of both TGP and within-generation plasticity in shaping traits involved in sexual selection and mate choice, potentially facilitating rapid responses to environmental change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change’.

3. Choosing from the field of competitors

2018 ◽  
pp. 34-51
Author(s):  
Leigh W. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Contemporary View ◽  
Sexual Characteristics ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Secondary Sexual

There is now unequivocal evidence for Darwin’s long-rejected suggestion that females choose among potential mates based on their secondary sexual traits. This has shifted attention from the question of whether females exercised mate choice, to why they should exhibit the mating preferences they do. ‘Choosing from the field of competitors’ gives a contemporary view of mate choice and its occurrence in a wide variety of animal species, along with some examples of what females are choosing and why parasites and disease may play a role in the evolution of extravagant secondary sexual characteristics. Several theoretical models are discussed along with the role of sexual selection in the evolution of humans.

Nutritional correlates and mate acquisition role of multiple sexual traits in male collared flycatchers

2010 ◽  
Vol 97 (6) ◽  
pp. 567-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gergely Hegyi ◽  
Eszter Szöllősi ◽  
Susanne Jenni-Eiermann ◽  
János Török ◽  
Marcel Eens ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Acquisition ◽  
Sexual Traits

Broad-sense sexual selection, sex gene pool evolution, and speciation

Genome ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 1033-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Civetta ◽  
R S Singh
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Broad Sense ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Male Characters ◽  
Sexual Conflicts ◽  
Sexual Traits

Studies of sexual selection have traditionally focused on explaining the extreme sexual dimorphism in male secondary sexual traits and elaborate mating behaviors displayed by males during courtship. In recent years, two aspects of sexual selection have received considerable attention in the literature: an extension of the sexual selection concept to other traits (i.e., postcopulatory behaviors, external and internal genital morphology, gametes, molecules), and alternative mechanistic explanations of the sexual selection process (i.e., coevolutionary runaway, good-genes, sexual conflicts). This article focuses on the need for an extension of sexual selection as a mechanism of change for courtship and (or) mating male characters (i.e., narrow-sense sexual selection) to all components of sexuality not necessarily related to courtship or mating (i.e., broad-sense sexual selection). We bring together evidence from a wide variety of organisms to show that sex-related genes evolve at a fast rate, and discuss the potential role of broad-sense sexual selection as an alternative to models that limit speciation to strict demographic conditions or treat it simply as an epiphenomenon of adaptive evolution.Key words: sexual selection, sex-related genes, speciation.

Functional significance of elaborate secondary sexual traits and their evolution in the water strider genus Rheumatobates

2006 ◽  
Vol 138 (4) ◽  
pp. 568-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Locke Rowe ◽  
Kathleen P. Westlake ◽  
Douglas C. Currie
Keyword(s):  
Functional Significance ◽  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Water Strider ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
General Sequence ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Male Morphology

AbstractSexual conflict may drive the evolutionary elaboration of sexually antagonistic traits that function in mating interactions. One of the most striking cases of elaboration of male morphology occurs in the water strider genus Rheumatobates Bergroth (Hemiptera: Gerridae). The functional significance of the bizarre modifications of appendages in this group is not known. Here we focus on one of the more elaborate of the species, R. rileyi Bergroth. We conduct observational and experimental studies aimed at determining the general sequence of mating behaviour, the role of females in the outcome of sexual interactions, and the functional significance of the highly modified appendages of males. We also map these traits on a known phylogeny of the genus to determine their pattern of evolution. Males repeatedly harass females and females respond with evasive skating or, if the male successfully grasps her, with a premating struggle. The dynamics of the struggle determine the success of mating attempts. Short struggles typically lead to mating, and long struggles typically result in disengagement of the pair. Following a short period of copulation, males withdraw their genitalia and dismount. Females that have been isolated from males for a period of time become less reluctant to mate. During the premating struggle, the antennae of males are used to grasp the females around the head, and the rear legs are used to lift the females' rear legs off the water surface. Neither antennae nor rear legs are used during copulation, thus they are not used for copulatory courtship. Mapping of these traits on the phylogeny indicates multiple independent origins and a pattern of escalation (16 origins, 7 losses). We conclude that these bizarre traits of males are sexually antagonistic and have evolved repeatedly in the genus.

scholarly journals Testosterone regulates CYP2J19 -linked carotenoid signal expression in male red-backed fairywrens ( Malurus melanocephalus )

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1935) ◽  
pp. 20201687 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Khalil ◽  
Joseph F. Welklin ◽  
Kevin J. McGraw ◽  
Jordan Boersma ◽  
Hubert Schwabl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Hormonal Regulation ◽  
Genetic Locus ◽  
Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Honest Signal ◽  
Malurus Melanocephalus ◽  
Signal Production ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
First Time

Carotenoid pigments produce most red, orange and yellow colours in vertebrates. This coloration can serve as an honest signal of quality that mediates social and mating interactions, but our understanding of the underlying mechanisms that control carotenoid signal production, including how different physiological pathways interact to shape and maintain these signals, remains incomplete. We investigated the role of testosterone in mediating gene expression associated with a red plumage sexual signal in red-backed fairywrens ( Malurus melanocephalus ). In this species, males within a single population can flexibly produce either red/black nuptial plumage or female-like brown plumage. Combining correlational analyses with a field-based testosterone implant experiment and quantitative polymerase chain reaction, we show that testosterone mediates expression of carotenoid-based plumage in part by regulating expression of CYP2J19 , a ketolase gene associated with ketocarotenoid metabolism and pigmentation in birds. This is, to our knowledge, the first time that hormonal regulation of a specific genetic locus has been linked to carotenoid production in a natural context, revealing how endocrine mechanisms produce sexual signals that shape reproductive success.

scholarly journals Handicap theory is applied to females but not males in relation to mate choice in the stalk-eyed fly Sphyracephala detrahens

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Koji Takeda ◽  
Tomoki Furuta ◽  
Masaki Hamada ◽  
Yo Sato ◽  
Kiichiro Taniguchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Difference ◽  
Sex Recognition ◽  
Honest Signals ◽  
Reproductive Ability ◽  
Primitive Species ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Primitive State

AbstractHandicap theory explains that exaggeratedly developed sexual traits become handicaps but serve as honest signals of quality. Because very weak signals are less likely to provide benefits than to simply incur costs, it is interesting to elucidate how sexual traits are generated and developed during evolution. Many stalk-eyed fly species belonging to tribe Diopsini exhibit marked sexual dimorphism in their eye spans, and males with larger eye spans have larger bodies and reproductive capacities, which are more advantageous in terms of contests between males and acceptance for mating by females. In this study, we investigated the role of eye span in a more primitive species, Sphyracephala detrahens, in tribe Sphyracephalini with less pronounced sexual dimorphism. Male-male, female-female, and male–female pairs showed similar contests influenced by eye span, which was correlated with nutrition and reproductive ability in both sexes. During mating, males did not distinguish between sexes and chose individuals with larger eye spans, whereas females did not choose males. However, males with larger eye spans copulated repeatedly. These results indicate that, in this species, eye span with a small sexual difference does not function in sex recognition but affects contest and reproductive outcomes, suggesting the primitive state of sexual dimorphism.

scholarly journals The complexities of female mate choice and male polymorphisms: Elucidating the role of genetics, age, and mate-choice copying

2015 ◽  
Vol 61 (6) ◽  
pp. 1015-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kasey D. Fowler-Finn ◽  
Laura Sullivan-Beckers ◽  
Amy M. Runck ◽  
Eileen A. Hebets
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Genetic Basis ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Mate Choice Copying ◽  
Male Phenotype ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
The Difference

Abstract Genetic, life history, and environmental factors dictate patterns of variation in sexual traits within and across populations, and thus the action and outcome of sexual selection. This study explores patterns of inheritance, diet, age, and mate-choice copying on the expression of male sexual signals and associated female mate choice in a phenotypically diverse group of Schizocosa wolf spiders. Focal spiders exhibit one of two male phenotypes: ‘ornamented’ males possess large black brushes on their forelegs, and ‘non-ornamented’ males possess no brushes. Using a quantitative genetics breeding design in a mixed population of ornamented/non-ornamented males, we found a strong genetic basis to male phenotype and female choice. We also found that some ornamented males produced some sons with large brushes and others with barely visible brushes. Results of diet manipulations and behavioral mating trials showed no influence of diet on male phenotype or female mate choice. Age post maturation, however, influenced mate choice, with younger females being more likely to mate with ornamented males. A mate-choice copying experiment found that, following observations of another female’s mate choice/copulation, virgin mature females tended to match the mate choice (ornamented vs. non-ornamented males) of the females they observed. Finally, analyses of genetic variation across phenotypically pure (only one male phenotype present) vs. mixed (both phenotypes present) populations revealed genetic distinction between phenotypes in phenotypically-pure populations, but no distinctionin phenotypically-mixed populations. The difference in patterns of genetic differentiation and mating across geographic locations suggests a complex network of factors contributing to the outcome of sexual selection.

scholarly journals Boldness is related to the development of the cephalic crest in the male of the river blenny Salaria fluviatilis (Asso, 1801)

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 373-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noëlle Fabre ◽  
Eduardo GarcÍa-Galea ◽  
Dolors Vinyoles
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Behaviour ◽  
Parental Status ◽  
Honest Signal ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Artificial Nests ◽  
Novel Objects ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Secondary Sexual

Abstract Boldness is defined as the tendency of an individual to take risks when exposed to novel objects or situations. The main aim of this work was to dilucidate if boldness was related to the development of the secondary sexual traits (SSTs) in the male of the river blenny Salaria fluviatilis, a freshwater fish which takes care of eggs. As a second objective SSTs effect on parental status adoption was also be explored. Wild young fish were caught in the Segre River (Ebro basin) in November 2010. Fish were kept in five aquaria in groups of eight males and eight females with artificial nests. Boldness (boldness score and hesitancy) of males (initially with little SSTs development) was tested as the time required to exit a refuge when exposed to a new environment. Fish were mantained in the same aquaria for several months, and males’ SSTs development and reproductive behaviour were monitored. Boldness score was negatively associated to cephalic crest development. Hesitancy was negatively related to male length and was also influenced by the interaction between male length and cephalic crest. Parental status acquisition was positively related to the male’s length, marginally related to anal gland development, and non-related to cephalic crest. These results suggest an intrasexual role of the crest as an informative trait of boldness (honest signal) which might not necessarily be chosen by the females. It is also discussed that correlational selection could be responsible for linking boldness and growth rate in this species. Sexual selection, in addition to having directed the evolution of secondary sexual traits, might have favored certain personality traits (e.g. boldness) associated with the achievement of a larger body length.

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