scholarly journals Mate Choice in Double-Breeding Female Great Tits (Parus Major): Good Males or Compatible Males

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 140
Author(s):  
Qianxi Fan ◽  
Mingju E ◽  
Yusheng Wei ◽  
Wei Sun ◽  
Haitao Wang
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parus Major ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Temperate Latitude ◽  
Breeding Female ◽  
Genetic Benefits ◽  
Compatible Genes ◽  
Large Breast ◽  
First Clutch

Producing two broods within the same season may be a good strategy by which short-lived species can maximize reproductive success. To produce two clutches in the same breeding season and to ensure offspring quality, choosing a good mate is important for females. Previous studies on double breeding focused on the associated influencing factors, and few studies examined how females choose social mates. Good genes and genetic compatibility are the two main hypotheses of the genetic benefit that females obtain from choosing mates. Uncovering the method used in mate choice for genetic benefits adopted by double-breeding females would provide a better understanding of the life history and rules of female choice. The great tit is an optionally double-breeding species in temperate-latitude populations. Here, we used a dataset for a Chinese population monitored between 2014 and 2016 to test two hypotheses on double-breeding female mate choice. A total of 30.1% of the breeding pairs initiated second breeding attempts, always remating with the same mate. The date of the first egg of the first brood did not affect initiation of a second brood, and female individual heterozygosity slightly influenced initiation of a second breeding. Female great tits choose males with both compatible genes and good genes in double-breeding mating. Double-breeding females prefer males with large breast stripes, high heterozygosity, and lower relatedness, while tarsus length, repertoire size, and individual F are not the main factors considered by females when selecting males for double breeding. The number of offspring of the first clutch did not affect the pairing status of male great tits in double breeding. The genetic quality of offspring from double-breeding pairs was higher than that of those from single-breeding pairs (higher heterozygosity and lower individual F). Taken together, our results showed that double breeding female great tits adopt multiple methods for genetic benefits to choose mates.

scholarly journals Adiposity, compared with masculinity, serves as a more valid cue to immunocompetence in human mate choice

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1751) ◽  
pp. 20122495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus J. Rantala ◽  
Vinet Coetzee ◽  
Fhionna R. Moore ◽  
Ilona Skrinda ◽  
Sanita Kecko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Genetic Quality ◽  
Secondary Sexual Trait ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Handicap Hypothesis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Secondary Sexual

According to the ‘good genes’ hypothesis, females choose males based on traits that indicate the male's genetic quality in terms of disease resistance. The ‘immunocompetence handicap hypothesis’ proposed that secondary sexual traits serve as indicators of male genetic quality, because they indicate that males can contend with the immunosuppressive effects of testosterone. Masculinity is commonly assumed to serve as such a secondary sexual trait. Yet, women do not consistently prefer masculine looking men, nor is masculinity consistently related to health across studies. Here, we show that adiposity, but not masculinity, significantly mediates the relationship between a direct measure of immune response (hepatitis B antibody response) and attractiveness for both body and facial measurements. In addition, we show that circulating testosterone is more closely associated with adiposity than masculinity. These findings indicate that adiposity, compared with masculinity, serves as a more important cue to immunocompetence in female mate choice.

scholarly journals Female mate choice across spatial scales: influence of lek and male attributes on mating success of blue-crowned manakins

2009 ◽  
Vol 276 (1663) ◽  
pp. 1875-1881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Renata Durães ◽  
Bette A. Loiselle ◽  
Patricia G. Parker ◽  
John G. Blake
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Genetic Quality ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Genetic Benefits

Lekking males compete for females within and among leks, yet female choice is expected to work differently at each of these spatial scales. We used paternity analyses to examine how lek versus male attributes influence mate choice in the blue-crowned manakin Lepidothrix coronata . We tested the hypotheses that females prefer (i) to mate at larger leks where a larger number of potential mates can be assessed, (ii) to mate with unrelated or highly heterozygous males expected to produce high-quality offspring, (iii) to mate with males that display at higher rates, and that (iv) display honestly reflects male genetic quality. Our results show that (i) males at larger leks are not more likely to sire young, although females nesting close to small leks travel further to reach larger leks, (ii) siring males are not less related to females or more heterozygous than expected, (iii) within a lek, high-display males are more likely to sire young, and (iv) both male heterozygosity and display rate increased with lek size, and as a result display does not reliably reflect male genetic quality across leks. We suggest that female mate choice in this species is probably driven by a Fisherian process rather than adaptive genetic benefits.

Testing the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis in male Moor Frogs (Rana arvalis) exhibiting a conspicuous nuptial colouration

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 581-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Hettyey ◽  
Herbert Hoi ◽  
Gábor Herczeg
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Positive Relationship ◽  
Sperm Quality ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Sexual Dichromatism ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Rana Arvalis ◽  
Moor Frog

AbstractThe conspicuous blue nuptial colouration of Moor Frog (Rana arvalis) males has been associated with sexual selection; it may provide females with information about benefits to be gained through mate choice. Here we investigated the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis suggesting that exaggerated traits may advertise fertilization ability. We evaluated conspicuousness of males' colouration and related this to the number of sperm stored in their testes. Contrary to our expectation, we did not find a positive relationship between blueness of males and the number of sperm stored in the testes. We discuss this result in the light of alternative traits that may be advertised by colouration, such as sperm quality or good genes for offspring survival. We now need direct studies of female mate choice and the physiology of the blue nuptial colouration to clarify the evolutionary background of the striking temporal sexual dichromatism in the Moor Frog.

Female choice for related males in wild red-backed toadlets (Pseudophryne coriacea)

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 928-937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M O’Brien ◽  
J Scott Keogh ◽  
Aimee J Silla ◽  
Phillip G Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Random Mating ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Outbreeding Depression ◽  
Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽  
Genetic Compatibility ◽  
Genetic Structuring ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Compatibility Hypothesis

AbstractMate choice for genetic benefits is assumed to be widespread in nature, yet very few studies have comprehensively examined relationships between female mate choice and male genetic quality in wild populations. Here, we use exhaustive sampling and single nucleotide polymorphisms to provide a partial test of the “good genes as heterozygosity” hypothesis and the “genetic compatibility” hypothesis in an entire population of terrestrial breeding red-backed toadlets, Pseudophryne coriacea. We found that successful males did not display higher heterozygosity, despite a positive relationship between male heterozygosity and offspring heterozygosity. Rather, in the larger of 2 breeding events, we found that successful males were more genetically similar to their mate than expected under random mating, indicating that females can use pre- or post-copulatory mate choice mechanisms to bias paternity toward more related males. These findings provide no support for the good genes as heterozygosity hypothesis but lend support to the genetic compatibility hypothesis. A complete test of this hypothesis will now require evaluating how parental genetic similarity impacts offspring fitness. Terrestrial toadlets show a high degree of site fidelity, high levels of genetic structuring between populations, and frequently hybridize with sister species. As such, female mate choice for related males may be an adaptive strategy to reduce outbreeding depression. Our findings provide the first population-wide evidence for non-random preferential inbreeding in a wild amphibian. We argue that such reproductive patterns may be common in amphibians because extreme genetic differentiation within meta-populations creates an inherently high risk of outbreeding depression.

scholarly journals The Good‐Genes and Compatible‐Genes Benefits of Mate Choice

2009 ◽  
Vol 174 (5) ◽  
pp. 741-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikael Puurtinen ◽  
Tarmo Ketola ◽  
J. S. Kotiaho
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Compatible Genes
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document