scholarly journals The evolutionary genetics of paternal care: How good genes and extrapair copulation affect the trade‐off between paternal care and mating success

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1165-1174
Author(s):  
Courtney Fitzpatrick ◽  
Colette M. Ciresi ◽  
Michael J. Wade
Keyword(s):  
Mating Success ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Evolutionary Genetics ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Extrapair Copulation

scholarly journals Females prefer the calls of better fathers in a Neotropical frog with biparental care

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A Pettitt ◽  
Godfrey R Bourne ◽  
Mark A Bee
Keyword(s):  
Paternal Care ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Differential Allocation ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Good Parent ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Male Care ◽  
Sexual Traits

Abstract Male secondary sexual traits potentially function as indicators of direct or indirect fitness benefits to females. Direct benefits, such as paternal care, may be especially important to females in species with biparental care. In an experimental field study of the golden rocket frog (Anomaloglossus beebei), a Neotropical species with biparental care, we tested predictions from four hypotheses proposed to explain the evolutionary relationship between male secondary sexual traits and paternal care quality (the “good parent,” “differential allocation,” “trade-off,” and “essential male care” hypotheses). We examined: 1) the influence of paternal care on offspring survival, 2) the relationships between male calls and paternal care, maternal care, and opportunities for males to acquire multiple mates, and 3) female preferences for three acoustic properties of male advertisement calls. Our results reveal that paternal care positively impacts offspring survival, that males producing longer calls also provide higher-quality paternal care in the form of greater egg attendance and territory defense, and that females prefer longer calls. Females did not discriminate among potential mates based on differences in dominant frequency or call rate. These findings, which suggest male advertisement calls are indicators of potential direct benefits to females in the form of paternal care, are consistent with the good parent hypothesis and inconsistent with the trade-off, differential allocation, and essential male care hypotheses.

scholarly journals Trade-off between warning signal efficacy and mating success in the wood tiger moth

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1727) ◽  
pp. 257-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ossi Nokelainen ◽  
Robert H. Hegna ◽  
Joanneke H. Reudler ◽  
Carita Lindstedt ◽  
Johanna Mappes
Keyword(s):  
Mating Success ◽  
Warning Signal ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
White Males ◽  
Survival Selection ◽  
Signal Efficacy ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Tiger Moth ◽  
Sexual Signalling ◽  
Colour Morphs

The coloration of species can have multiple functions, such as predator avoidance and sexual signalling, that directly affect fitness. As selection should favour traits that positively affect fitness, the genes underlying the trait should reach fixation, thereby preventing the evolution of polymorphisms. This is particularly true for aposematic species that rely on coloration as a warning signal to advertise their unprofitability to predators. Nonetheless, there are numerous examples of aposematic species showing remarkable colour polymorphisms. We examined whether colour polymorphism in the wood tiger moth is maintained by trade-offs between different functions of coloration. In Finland, males of this species have two distinct colour morphs: white and yellow. The efficacy of the warning signal of these morphs was tested by offering them to blue tits in the laboratory. Birds hesitated significantly longer to attack yellow than white males. In a field experiment, the survival of the yellow males was also higher than white males. However, mating experiments in the laboratory revealed that yellow males had lower mating success than white males. Our results offer an explanation for the maintenance of polymorphism via trade-off between survival selection and mating success.

The evolutionary genetics of personality: Does mutation load signal relationship load?

2006 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 409-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Buss
Keyword(s):  
Mating Success ◽  
Mate Selection ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Additive Genetic Variance ◽  
Evolutionary Genetics ◽  
Resource Acquisition ◽  
Mutation Load ◽  
Normal Personality ◽  
Difference Detection ◽  
Show Evidence

The mutation-selection hypothesis may extend to understanding normal personality variation. Traits such as emotional stability, agreeableness, and conscientiousness figure strongly in mate selection and show evidence of non-additive genetic variance. They are linked with reproductively relevant outcomes, including longevity, resource acquisition, and mating success. Evolved difference-detection adaptations may function to spurn individuals whose high mutation load signals a burdensome relationship load.

Plasma testosterone levels of male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) during the breeding cycle and in relation to song and paternal care

Behaviour ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 144 (4) ◽  
pp. 393-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcel Eens ◽  
Veerle Darras ◽  
Lutgarde Arckens ◽  
Elke de Ridder ◽  
Rianne Pinxten
Keyword(s):  
Paternal Care ◽  
Sturnus Vulgaris ◽  
Plasma Testosterone ◽  
Breeding Cycle ◽  
Mating Effort ◽  
European Starlings ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Mate Attraction ◽  
Incubation Behaviour ◽  
Paternal Effort

In temperate-zone birds, seasonal testosterone (T) profiles often vary among species with different mating systems. The trade-off hypothesis suggests that T levels in male birds represent a trade-off between additional mating effort, stimulated by high T, and paternal effort, inhibited by high T. To study the role of T in mediating the trade-off between paternal and mating effort in the facultatively polygynous European starling ( Sturnus vulgaris ), we monitored seasonal fluctuations in T levels and song activity, which functions mainly in mate attraction, and we investigated natural covariation between plasma T levels and male parental and song behaviour during the parental phase. T concentrations peaked during nest building, remained high during the fertile period, and then decreased gradually during the period of paternal care. This resembles the profile typically found in polygynous species with biparental care. Seasonal variation in song activity paralleled seasonal changes in T. The proportion of time spent incubating was significantly negatively correlated with T levels in individual males. There was a positive, but non-significant, correlation between song activity at an additional nest box and T levels during incubation. We suggest that this negative correlation between T and incubation behaviour may be partly explained by T increases in males responding to the presence of prospecting females with additional nestbox occupation and mate attraction song, rather than that high T levels stimulate mate attraction song. During the feeding period, characterized by a very low availability of unmated females, variation in T levels was low and there was no covariation between T and feeding. T levels during the parental phase reflect, but do not seem to directly regulate, the trade-off between parental and additional mating effort and other factors such as opportunities for additional matings may influence the resolution of this reproductive trade-off.

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO MALE MATING SUCCESS IN THE POLYGYNOUS DUSKY WARBLER (PHYLLOSCOPUS FUSCATUS)

Behaviour ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 139 (10) ◽  
pp. 1361-1381 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Forstmeier
Keyword(s):  
Mating Success ◽  
Competitive Ability ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Male Mating Success ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Harem Size ◽  
Long Tails ◽  
General Variation

AbstractIn a mating system where females obtain multiple benefits from choosing a partner, male reproductive success will depend on a variety of factors. Females may seek (1) a high-quality territory (2) a good parent and (3) good genes for offspring viability. Looking at the dusky warbler Phylloscopus fuscatus, a system of resource-defence polygyny, I try to establish the relative importance of these factors for determining male mating success. Male success in social pairing (i.e. harem size) largely depended on territory quality and thereby on success in competition over the best territories. Old males and males with high body mass had a greater chance of mating polygynously, while first-year males and males of low body weight more often remained unmated. In addition, males with long tails were more likely to stay unmated. Interestingly, males with long tails contributed less to offspring care, which suggests that the social mating decisions of primary females also depended on the readiness of males to provision the young. Analysis of extra-pair paternity showed that females did not prefer to copulate with males that were most successful in competition over territories. Nevertheless, polygynous males, on average, sired 3.4 times more offspring than monogamous males. Socially unmated males sired 0.7 times as many. In general, variation in competitive ability had a roughly two times larger effect on male mating success than variation in male attractiveness. The effect of variation in parental qualities was probably less than one tenth of the effect of competitive ability.

scholarly journals Extra-pair mating opportunities mediate parenting and mating effort trade-offs in a songbird

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Lv ◽  
Zhengwang Zhang ◽  
Frank Groenewoud ◽  
Sjouke A Kingma ◽  
Jianqiang Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Central China ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Pair Mating ◽  
Mating Opportunities ◽  
Extra Pair Mating

Abstract In socially monogamous species with bi-parental care, males may face a trade-off between providing parental care and pursuing extra-pair matings. The “parenting-mating trade-off” hypothesis predicts that high-quality males—who have greater potential to gain extra-pair matings, for example, larger males usually win the competition for extra-pair mating—should reduce parental care and spend more time looking for extra-pair matings. However, the trade-off between parenting and mating efforts may be complicated by variation in the availability of extra-pair mating opportunities. By using field data of hair-crested drongos (Dicrurus hottentottus), a species exhibiting bi-parental incubation behavior, collected in central China from 2010 to 2017, we tested whether the potential negative relationship between male quality and paternal care was dependent on the number of nearby fertile females. We found that male drongos mainly seek extra-pair matings during the incubation period and high-quality individuals (males with longer tarsi) are more likely to sire extra-pair offspring. In agreement with the “parenting-mating trade-off” hypothesis, high-quality males incubated less by recessing longer between incubation bouts. However, this was only the case when sufficient fertile females nearby for extra-pair mating opportunities. Females compensated for reduced male care, but this was independent of male quality. This suggests that the reduction in care by high-quality males might be a direct response to extra-pair mating opportunities rather than facilitated by differential allocation of females. Our results indicate that individual quality and available mating opportunities may shape the optimal trade-off between parental care and seeking additional matings for males.

Good genes and parental care in human evolution

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 611-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Marlowe
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Female Preferences

Prior to agriculture, human societies were small, with little variation for good genes sexual selection (GGSS) to work on. Across cultures, variation in paternal care makes the benefits of GGSS highly variable. Despite these caveats, female preferences for traits like male body symmetry suggest one reason for female short-term mating is gene shopping.

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