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1.
Female mate choice based on visual traits appears to be rare in lizards. Field observations suggest that females of the lizard Lacerta monticola preferred to mate with larger/older males. Although older males are usually green and larger, and younger males brown and smaller, there is some overlap in size and coloration between age classes. Thus, visual cues may not always be reliable indicators of a male's age. We hypothesized that female mate-choice preferences may be based on males' pheromones, which might transmit information about characteristics such as age. In a laboratory experiment, we analyzed the effect of age of males on attractiveness of their scents to females. When we offered scents of two males of different age, females associated preferentially with scents of older males. This suggested that females were able to assess the age of males by chemical signals alone, and that females preferred to be in areas scent-marked by older males. Thus, females may increase their opportunities to mate with males of high quality, or may avoid harassment by sneaking young males. This result agreed with field observations on females mating with old males, and rejection of advances by young males. Our results also suggested that female preference for older males may depend on their own body size. Large females showed a strong preference for older males, whereas smaller females were not so selective. This, together with males' preference for large females, might lead to size-assortative matings. We suggest that the quality and/or quantity of male pheromones could communicate to the female heritable male genetic quality (i.e. age) and thereby serve as the basis of adaptive female choice in lizards.Communicated by W.E. Cooper 相似文献
2.
Recent theory and empirical work suggests that there may be variation among females in mate preferences that is adaptive.
One of the possible mechanisms maintaining variability in preferences and preferred traits is that the benefits of mate choice
may depend on compatibility with potential mating partners. We examined fitness consequences of mate choice in a species of
fish, the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus with a special focus on mate compatibility. Females were given the opportunity to establish their mate preferences in a dichotomous
mate choice experiment. This information was then applied by mating the focal or control female with either the preferred
or the non-preferred male. The parental performance of the males of these four mating combinations was then measured. In a
separate experiment, we assessed the female differential allocation by determining the residual gonad weight of spawned females
as a measure of the proportion of eggs spawned. We also estimated the amount of filial cannibalism separately for both sexes.
Our results show that preferred males provided benefits in the form of an increased number of hatching eggs. This benefit
was the same when the male was mated with a focal or a control female. Hence, we found no support for benefits that depend
on mate compatibility. Neither did we find support for the hypothesis that females would lay a different number of eggs depending
on the male status. The results also indicate that male filial cannibalism has a strong role in determining hatching success
in this species. 相似文献
3.
Female choice on the basis of male traits has been described in an array of taxa but has rarely been demonstrated in reptiles. In the sand lizard (Lacerta agilis), and possibly in other non-territorial reptiles, a male's contribution to a female's fitness is restricted to his genes. In order to choose males of high genetic quality, females have to trade the fitness gain against the costs of active choice. In a Swedish population of sand lizards, long-lived males sired offspring with higher embryonic survival compared to offspring sired by short-lived males. In spite of this female sand lizards did not mate selectively with older and/or larger males. There appeared to be mo reliable cues to male longevity; age-specific male body size was highly variable. Furthermore, estimates of male nuptial coloration did not covary with ectoparasite load and, hence, females cannot use male coloration as a cue to heritable resistance to pathogenic parasite effects. When cues to male genetic quality are poor, or inaccurate, and males make no parental investment, we predict that female choice will be rare. Sand lizard females mating with many partners lay clutches with higher hatching success. Thus, females may obtain good genes for their young by multiple mating, thereby avoiding costs associated with mate choice. 相似文献
4.
Sexual selection via female choice can afford preferred males comparably higher mating success than those males that lack preferred traits. In addition, many models of sexual selection assume that both male traits and female preferences are heritable. In this study we test whether females of the poeciliid fish, Heterandria formosa, have repeatable pre-copulatory preferences for larger males. We also test whether female pre-copulatory preferences are always reliable indicators of male mating success. When given a choice between a large and a small male, females prefer larger males, and the repeatability of this preference is high. Although there are no overall differences in male mating success between large and small males, large males have a higher mating success when they are the first to mate than when they are the second to mate. Likewise, preferred males also have higher mating success when they are the first to mate than when they mate second. Therefore, the repeatable female preferences observed in this study only predict male mating success when the preferred male mates first. These results illustrate that even significantly repeatable female preferences do not translate into male mating success, which is an assumption of many examinations of the importance of female choice in sexual selection. 相似文献
5.
Sperm economy and limitation in spiny lobsters 总被引:5,自引:0,他引:5
Sperm limitation, when female fertilisation success is constrained by the supply of sperm, is generally perceived to be an
uncommon feature of reproduction in species which directly transfer gametes during copulation. Male size, previous copulations,
and the balance of expected reproductive return and future mating opportunity may, however, limit the amount of sperm males
transfer to females. We used laboratory experiments where mate size could be manipulated and its consequences on spermatophore
size and clutch size determined, to show that in two genera of spiny lobsters (Crustacea: Palinuridae) male reproductive output
limits the size of clutches brooded by females. In Panulirus argus from the Florida Keys, we show that while male size affects spermatophore area, males also vary the amount of ejaculate positively
with female size. Furthermore, the area of the spermatophore has a greater influence than female size on subsequent clutch
weight. In Jasus edwardsii from New Zealand, female size, male size and mate order all affect clutch weight. In both species, clutches fertilised by
small males in the laboratory are significantly smaller than clutches fertilised by large males. These results suggest that
to ensure they receive sufficient sperm, females should either mate several times prior to oviposition, mate as early as possible
in the reproductive season, or choose large, preferably unmated males as partners and thus compete with other females for
preferred males. Sperm-limited female fecundity has the potential to limit the egg production of fished populations where
large males are typically rare.
Received: 18 May 1998 / Received in revised form: 20 November 1998 / Accepted: 30 November 1998 相似文献
6.
Kathryn B. McNamara Therésa M. Jones Mark A. Elgar 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(8):1177-1184
Male copulation experience may have a profound impact on female reproductive success if male reproductive investment declines
over consecutive copulations and if females are unlikely to re-mate. Male reproductive investment is particularly interesting
in lepidopterans because males produce dimorphic sperm: a fertilizing (eupyrene) and a non-fertilising (apyrene) sperm. In
two experiments, we explored the lifetime reproductive investment of male almond moths, Cadra cautella (also known as Ephestia cautella) and examined its influence on female reproductive success. In the almond moth, females re-mate infrequently and males transfer
sperm in a spermatophore. Attached to the spermatophore is a large chitinous process, the function of which is unknown. One
group of males were permitted consecutive copulations with virgin females and the amount of sperm and size of the spermatophore
transferred were compared for all females. We found that the number of both eupyrene and apyrene sperm per ejaculate decreased
with his increased mating frequency, while the size of the spermatophore process decreased dramatically after the male’s first
copulation. In a second experiment, we allowed males to mate with females throughout their lives and then compared female
fecundity and fertilisation success. We found no obvious decrease in female fecundity and fertilisation success with increased
male copulation experience, despite the likely reduction in male gametic investment. We discuss potential explanations for
the development of this enlarged and elaborate first spermatophore of male almond moths given that it confers no clear fitness
advantage to females. 相似文献
7.
Summary We show how mate limitation appears to be critical in determining whether or not males exercise mate choice among available females. Thalassoma bifasciatum is a Caribbean reef fish with two distinct mating patterns: group-spawning and pair-spawning. In both mating systems, female fecundity is variable and size dependent, and female availability is high. However, sperm competition among group-spawning males apparently limits the number of effective matings in which a male may engage, whereas territorial pair-spawning males have little or no such limitation. Group-spawning males should be discriminating in their choice of mates and our data confirm this: there is strong evidence for assortative mating in group-spawns, with more large males joining in mating groups around large females. In contrast, pair-spawning males show no indication of mate preferences, and spawn with all females who arrive at their territories. 相似文献
8.
Matteo Pizzolon Maria B. Rasotto Carlotta Mazzoldi 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(4):521-528
Female ornamentation may be directly sexually selected, by male choice or female competition, or occurs as the result of a
genetic correlation, arising from sexual selection on males. However, increasing evidence supports the former hypothesis,
suggesting that males actively choose their partner preferring traits indicative of female quality. In the lagoon goby, Knipowitschia panizzae, a polygynous species whose males perform parental care to eggs, body length and the size of a sex-specific yellow patch
on the belly are known to be reliable indicators of female fecundity. In this paper, we tested, using dummies, the male’s
mating preferences for female body and yellow belly patch sizes. The two experimental trials in which a single female trait
was variable showed that males prefer a larger belly patch and a larger body size, indicating that both these characters are
selected by male mate choice. However, when faced with dummies exhibiting an inverse combination of body and belly patch sizes
(experiment 3), males significantly preferred the smaller ones with larger yellow belly patches. A calculation of dummy theoretical
fecundity reveals that in the first two experiments, males would have received an immediate benefit from their choice in terms
of egg number, whereas in the third one, males chose partners that would have provided them with fewer eggs. The male lagoon
goby preference for females with larger belly patches, regardless of their size, suggests that this trait, in addition to
indicating fecundity, conveys information about other aspects of female and/or egg quality. 相似文献
9.
Pheromone-based female mate choice and its effect on reproductive investment in a spitting spider 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Teck Hui Koh Wee Khee Seah Laura-Marie Y. L. Yap Daiqin Li 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2009,63(6):923-930
Numerous studies have focused on whether organisms can signal or perceive pheromones and use chemical signals in species and
mate recognition. Recently, there have been an increasing number of studies investigating whether pheromones are used in mate
choice. Yet, little attention has been paid in exploring the effects of pheromone-based mate choice on reproductive investment.
We first tested this hypothesis by providing virgin Scytodes sp. females with a choice between two virgin males in the presence of chemical signals alone and found strong evidence of
an odor-based mate preference. We then examined the consequences of the odor-based mate choice by allowing female Scytodes sp. that had previously made an odor-only mate choice to mate with preferred and non-preferred males, respectively. We measured
the success of copulation, mortality of male, pre-oviposition interval, egg-sac weight, egg weight, fecundity, fertility,
embryonic period, and size of offspring at hatching. Females that mated with the preferred males produced significantly heavier
egg sacs that contained more and larger eggs with a greater fertility. Significantly more non-preferred males than preferred
males were killed by spitting. However, pre-oviposition interval, embryonic period, and hatchling size were not affected by
female mate choice. This study is the first to demonstrate that female spiders are able to regulate their highly valuable
reproductive investment based solely on chemical signals. 相似文献
10.
Female spawning patterns and male mating success in the sand goby Pomatoschistus minutus 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
Kai Lindström 《Marine Biology》1992,113(3):475-480
In June 1989 in a study conducted near Träminne Zoological Station, Finland (60° N 23° E) I investigated whether or not male mating success could be explained by female choice for male size in sand gobies (Pomatoschistus minutus). Male mating success was constrained by nest size and increased markedly with increasing nest size. I also found a negative correlation between the length of spawning females and the fullness of the nest. As large females lay more eggs, they also need to find a nest with more space available for the eggs. The size of males without eggs was the same across nest size, whereas the size of males with eggs significantly increased with increasing nest size. This is interpreted as female discrimination against males as mates in nests that are often contested. There was no correlation between a male's size and his mating success when males with no eggs in their nests were excluded. A male removal experiment, however, showed that, in a specific nest, when male size increases so does mating success, whereas, if male size decreases, mating success also decreases. It is concluded that in the sand goby females prefer to mate with larger males, especially when the male possesses a high-quality nest that he most probably will have to defend against other males. 相似文献
11.
Michelle L. Taylor Nina Wedell David J. Hosken 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(5):721-728
There is a current debate over the net fitness consequences of sexual selection. Do preferred males increase female fitness or are these males manipulating females for their own benefit? The evidence is mixed. Some studies find that mating with attractive males increases female fitness components, while others show that preferred males decrease measures of female fitness. In this study, we examined some of the fitness consequences of pre-copulatory sexual selection in Drosophila simulans. Virgin females were either paired with one male and given an opportunity for one copulation or were exposed simultaneously to two males. This allowed us to compare female preference (copulation latency) and fitness (longevity, lifetime productivity and rate of offspring production) both with and without the influence of male–male competition. When females had access to a single male, neither female longevity, productivity, nor short-term rate of productivity were associated with female preference, and although females mated more quickly with larger males, male size was also not associated with any female fitness measure. Inclusion of male–male competition showed that female longevity was negatively affected by preference, while productivity and rate of productivity was unaffected. This latter experiment also indicated that females preferred larger males, but again, male size was not associated with female fitness. These results indicate that females may not benefit from mating with preferred males, but they may incur survival costs. 相似文献
12.
Lingbing Wu Huaping Zhang Ting He Zeliang Liu Yu Peng 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2013,67(2):205-212
Sexual cannibalism is hypothesized to have evolved as a way to obtain a high-quality meal, as an extreme mate choice or as a consequence of female aggressive spillover. Here, we examined underlying factors likely to influence sexual cannibalism in the wolf spider Pardosa pseudoannulata (Bösenberg & Strand, 1906) from China, including mating status, female egg-laid status, female hunger level, female adult age and mate size dimorphism. The results showed that about 10 % of P. pseudoannulata virgin females cannibalized the approaching males before mating and that 28 % of P. pseudoannulata virgin females immediately cannibalized the males after mating. No incidents of sexual cannibalism during copulation were observed. Before mating, previously mated females and starved females tended to engage in significantly higher rates of attacks compared to virgin and well-fed females. Females that had laid egg sacs tended to engage in a significantly higher rate of attacks and sexual cannibalism than virgin females before mating. Regardless of pre- or post-mating, there was a strong positive relationship between mate size dimorphism and the occurrence of sexual cannibalism. We also tested the effects of sexual cannibalism on the fecundity of cannibalistic females and the survival of their offspring. Our results indicated that sexual cannibalism affected positively the offspring survival of cannibalistic females, but not fecundity. Our findings support the hypothesis that sexual cannibalism has evolved as an adaptive component of female foraging strategy and that it benefits offspring survival as a result of paternal investment. 相似文献
13.
Female mate choice is regarded as a strong selective force that significantly affects male mating success. In extreme cases, mate rejection can result in sexual cannibalism. However, males may choose between their partners as well. The killing of potential female mates, i.e. reversed form of sexual cannibalism, may be related to male mate choice. We examined male mate choice in the spider Micaria sociabilis, focusing on the roles of female mating status (virgin/mated), size and age. Reversed cannibalism reached its highest frequency in the period of generation overlap, i.e. when young males from the summer generation met old(er) females from the spring generation. These results suggest discrimination against old(er) females. The frequency of cannibalism was not affected by female mating status or female size. However, larger males from the summer generation were more cannibalistic than smaller males from the spring generation. We conclude that reversed sexual cannibalism might be an adaptive mate choice mechanism and can be explained in the context of the aggressive spillover hypothesis. 相似文献
14.
Rickey D. Cothran Kristopher Chapman Andy R. Stiff Rick A. Relyea 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2012,66(6):905-913
Despite the central role that female mate choice plays in the production of biological diversity, controversy remains concerning its evolution and maintenance. This is particularly true in systems where females are choosy but do not receive obvious direct benefits such as nuptial gifts that increase a female's survival and fecundity. In the absence of such direct benefits, indirect benefits (i.e., the production of superior offspring) are often invoked to explain the evolution of mate choice. However, females may receive less obvious, or "cryptic," direct benefits, particularly in species with prolonged pre-mating interactions (e.g., precopulatory mate guarding). We assessed the “cryptic” direct benefits of female choice for large male size in two species of freshwater amphipods that do not receive obvious direct benefits. Females paired with large males experienced decreased predation from fish. However, we found that the size of a female’s mate did not affect her predation risk against predatory dragonflies or the harassment she received by single males while paired. Our results demonstrate that even when females receive no traditional direct benefits, female choice for large male size can still provide important direct benefits. Such “cryptic” direct benefits may be common, especially in species with prolonged mating interactions, and are likely important for fully understanding the evolution of mate choice. 相似文献
15.
Nina Wedell 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(9):1385-1391
A cost of mating is common to both sexes but has predominantly been examined in females. In species where males provide resources
to females at copulation, male mating costs are expected to be high as nutrient provisioning enhancing female fecundity is
assumed to carry costs. In addition, males frequently court females prior to mating, which is known to carry survival costs
to both sexes. However, the magnitude and basis of variation in males’ mating costs remains largely unknown. Here, I examine
the effect of nutrient provisioning and courtship on male longevity across full-sib families in the paternally investing green-veined
white butterfly, Pieris napi. Copulating males suffered a survival cost as did courting males prevented from copulating, indicating the courtship component
of mating is costly. Male P. napi release aphrodisiacs during courtship to promote mating, indicating that these compounds may also be costly to produce. Contrary
to expectation, nutrient provisioning was not associated with reduced survival relative to males only allowed to court females,
although it is possible that this could be masked by the potentially elevated courtship rates of courting males relative to
mating males. Families differed in magnitude of reduced male survivorship, indicating a likely genetic basis to variation
in costs of courtship and copulation. Male weight was unrelated to longevity and mating success, whereas longevity strongly
influenced male mating success, indicating lifespan is an important male fitness trait in this species. 相似文献
16.
Field studies demonstrate that natural populations of a group of water striders (Heteroptera: Gerridae) that share a common
mating system are characterized by weak assortative mating by size and by large sizes of mating males and females relative
to single individuals. This study presents an experimental assessment of the components of mating that may contribute to these
mating patterns. The effects of male and female body size on each of three components of mating were studied in three water
strider species in the laboratory. Large females of all three species mated more frequently, copulated for longer and were
guarded longer than small females. Large males mated more frequently than small males in all three species, and also guarded
females for longer in the two species where the average of mate guarding was long. However, we found an antagonistic effect
of male size on copulation duration: small males copulated for longer than large males in all three species. We show that
the combined effects of these size biases mimic the mating patterns found in the wild, e.g. weak and variable assortative
mating, and stronger and less variable size ratios of mating versus non-mating females relative to males. We suggest that
the antagonistic effects of male size on copulation and guarding duration may be a key source of interpopulational variation
in assortative mating and sexual selection on male size. Further, neither spatial or temporal covariation in size, nor mechanical
constraints, caused the assortative mating observed here in this group of water striders. Some combination of male and female
choice (either active or passive forms) of large mates and male-male exploitation competition for mates play potentially important
roles in producing population level assortative mating in water striders.
Received: 17 March 1995/Accepted after revision: 28 October 1995 相似文献
17.
R. Terry Bowyer Janet L. Rachlow Kelley M. Stewart Victor Van Ballenberghe 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(12):2251-2260
Evidence of female fomentation of male–male aggression as a mechanism of mate choice is rare, especially in mammals. Female
choice of mates in polygynous species may be masked by intense male competition or by males attempting to restrict female
choice. We studied protest moans of female Alaskan moose Alces alces gigas in interior Alaska, USA, from 1987 to 1990, to determine if moans incited male–male aggression. Alaskan moose exhibit a mating
system in which one dominant male (the harem master) herds, defends, courts, and attempts to mate with females in his harem.
Protest moans were given by females only in response to courtship. We hypothesized that if protest moans were related to females
reducing harassment and exercising mate choice, females should give protest moans more frequently when courted by small males
and less often when courted by large males, and that rates of male–male aggression would be elevated following protest moans.
Harems were composed of one large male, with a mean of 4.4 females (median = 3 females); 10% of 132 harems included ≥10 females.
The temporal pattern of protest moans from late August through November was associated with, but tended to lag behind, mating
behavior. The rate of protest moans given by females decreased with increasing size of males courting them. Male–male aggression
was significantly less during periods without protest moans than during periods in which protest moans occurred. These results
indicate that female moose gave protest moans to reduce harassment by smaller males, and assure a mating opportunity with
the most dominant male. Such a subtle mechanism of indirect mate choice by females may occur in other vertebrates in which
choice is limited by a mating system in which male–male combat and male dominance over females reduces opportunities for female
choice. The importance of female choice may be undervalued in studies of sexual selection in mammals. 相似文献
18.
Cues that females use to select potential mates have attracted substantial research effort, but the criteria for male mate choice remain very poorly known. Red-sided garter snakes ( Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) court and mate in large aggregations around overwintering dens in southern Manitoba, Canada. Both courtship and mating are size-assortative: small male snakes court small as well as large females, whereas larger males court only large females. This system provides a unique opportunity to assess the cues that males use in selecting mates, and in particular the mechanisms that generate a size-related shift in mate preference. Experiments in which we manipulated body sizes and scents showed that both vision and scent (sex pheromones) were important. Large males directed intense courtship only when the stimulus provided both visual and chemical (skin lipid) evidence of large body size. Small males were much less discriminating in both respects. Thus, size-assortative mating in this system is generated not by larger males excluding their smaller rivals from the largest females (as has been reported in other reptile species), but by a size-related shift in the visual and pheromonal cues that elicit courtship. Males of some species may thus show complex patterns of mate choice, with the cues that stimulate courtship differing even among males within a single population based on traits such as age or body size. 相似文献
19.
In Lepidoptera polyandry is common and females may increase their lifetime reproductive output through repeated matings if they acquire essential resources from male ejaculates. However, the paternity of males mating with previously-mated females is far from assured unless sperm precedence is absolute. In this study on the polyandrous armyworm, Pseudaletia unipuncta, we used two strains of male (the black-eyed wild type and a red-eyed homozygous, recessive mutant), mated with red-eyed females, to determine (i) whether male investment has any impact on female reproductive output, and (ii) if females do benefit from multiple matings, to what extent males fertilize the eggs to which they contributed. Multiple mating resulted in a significant increase in both the fecundity and longevity of females. However, the degree of sperm precedence (those eggs fertilized by the second male) varied from 0–100%, but was not affected by either male size or age, or by the duration of copulation. In cases where sperm precedence was <50% (x = 12%) females produced significantly more eggs (1384 versus 940) prior to the second mating than females where sperm precedence was >50% (x = 89%), indicating that the quality of the first mating influenced the fertilization success of the female's second mate. 相似文献
20.
Time constraints and multiple choice criteria in the sampling behaviour and mate choice of the fiddler crab,Uca annulipes 总被引:9,自引:0,他引:9
Active female sampling occurs in the fiddler crab Uca annulipes. Females sample the burrows of several males before remaining to mate in the burrow of the chosen partner. Females time larval
release to coincide with the following nocturnal spring tide and must therefore leave sufficient time for embryonic development
after mating. Here we show how this temporal constraint on search time affects female choosiness. We found that, at the start
of the sampling period (when time constraints are minimal), females selectively sample the larger males in the population.
Towards the end of the sampling period (when the temporal constraints increase the costs of sampling), females are less selective.
Furthermore, we suggest that the number of males sampled (and other indices of ‘‘sampling effort’’) may not be reliable indicators
of female choosiness and may not reflect the strength of female mating preferences under certain conditions. Burrow quality
also emerged as an important criterion in final mate choice. Burrow structure potentially influences reproductive success,
and mate acceptance based on burrow structure appears to involve a relatively invariant threshold criterion. Since there is
no relationship between male size and burrow quality, females are using at least two independent criteria when choosing potential
mates. We envisage mate choice as a two-stage process. First, females select which males to sample based on male size. They
then decide whether or not to mate with a male based on burrow features. This sampling process explains how two unrelated
variables can both predict male mating success.
Received: 23 March 1995/Accepted after revision: 14 January 1996 相似文献