Strategic male signalling effort in a desert-dwelling fish |
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Authors: | Bob B M Wong P Andreas Svensson |
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Institution: | (1) School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, 3800, Australia |
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Abstract: | Males often use elaborate courtship displays to attract females for mating. Much attention, in this regard, has been focused
on trying to understand the causes and consequences of signal variation among males. Far less, by contrast, is known about
within-individual variation in signal expression and, in particular, the extent to which males may be able to strategically
adjust their signalling output to try to maximise their reproductive returns. Here, we experimentally investigated male courtship
effort in a fish, the Australian desert goby, Chlamydogobius eremius. When offered a simultaneous choice between a large and a small female, male gobies spent significantly more time associating
with, and courting, the former, probably because larger females are also more fecund. Male signalling patterns were also investigated
under a sequential choice scenario, with females presented one at a time. When first offered a female, male courtship was
not affected by female size. However, males adjusted their courtship effort towards a second female depending on the size
of the female encountered previously. In particular, males that were first offered a large female significantly reduced their
courtship effort when presented with a subsequent, smaller, female. Our findings suggest that males may be able to respond
adaptively to differences in female quality, and strategically adjust their signalling effort accordingly. |
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Keywords: | Male mate choice Previous female effect Sequential mate choice Sexual selection Signal honesty |
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