Copying and the repeatability of mate choice |
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Authors: | Robert Brooks |
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Institution: | (1) Communication Biology Research Group, Department of Zoology, University of the Witwatersrand, WITS 2050, South Africa, ZA |
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Abstract: | Models of sexual selection by female choice require heritable variation in female mating preferences in order for sexual
selection to operate. However, recent theoretical work shows that female preferences which are transmitted non-genetically
can result in exaggeration of male ornamentation. Guppies exhibit both mate copying and considerable heritable variation in
female preferences. I studied the importance of these phenomena by measuring repeatability of female mate choice, which acts
as an estimate of the upper limit to which a feature may be heritable, and the incidence of mate choice reversal in paired-trial
binary mate choice experiments. Mate choice was significantly repeatable except in the treatment where females were given
the opportunity to copy a female that contradicted their original choice. Apart from this, I found no evidence that females
copy the mate choice of others. The differences between males in ornamentation had no effect on the consistency of female
mate choice or the probability that they would reverse their original choice decision (in both controls and the copying experiment).
The interval between choice trials did not influence repeatability significantly, indicating that the independence of choice
decisions is not related to the time interval between them.
Received: 9 February 1996/Accepted after revision: 6 July 1996 |
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Keywords: | Mate choice Mate copying Ornaments Repeatability Guppy |
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