Female preference and sexual selection for male coloration in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata)

1985 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 199-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Kodric-Brown
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Male Coloration

Social Behavior Patterns as Determinants of Reproductive Success in the Guppy, Poecilia Reticulata Peters (Pisces: Poeciliidae) an Experimental Study of the Effects of Intermale Competition, Female Choice, and Sexual Selection

Behaviour ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 74 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 38-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
James A. Farr
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Color Patterns ◽  
Courtship Display ◽  
Male Effect ◽  
Male Coloration

AbstractThe reproductive success of competing male guppies, Poecilia reticulata, was measured and compared to various features of social behavior and secondary sexual coloration. The most important determinant of reproductive success was the rate at which a male courted females relative to those of other males. Males with higher display rates have a greater chance of encountering a receptive female and are preferred by females. Males adjust their display rate in such a way as to be just noticeably more active than a competitor, and inbred strains differ in the maximum rate at which males can court females. No other factor is able to offset the disadvantage of displaying at a relatively low rate. Sexual selection has resulted in the maximization of courtship activity in natural populations. If males court females with equal frequencies, those which also inseminate females through gonopodial thrusting without female cooperation have a selective advantage. Because poeciliid females store sperm, inseminations through gonopodial thrusting can reduce the reproductive success of competitor males which copulate only following a display. A mixed strategy of displaying and gonopodial thrusting is more successful than either pure strategy. The result is a mating system which partially ignores female choice mechanisms. Intermale aggresssion was found to be maladaptive. Males which displayed at higher rates than competitors were less successful if they were also more aggressive than the competitors, than when they were non-aggressive or the competitors were more aggressive. Males were not able to reduce a competitor's courtship display rate through aggression. It was hypothesized that the low level of aggression in natural guppy populations is attributable to the fact that variance in size of males is low and fights would be lengthy before a winner could be determined. This would subtract from time available for courtship, and female preference for high-displaying males would select against aggressive phenotypes. There was little evidence that conspicuousness of male coloration influences female choice of males. Dull males with high courtship display rates were significantly more successful than conspicuous males with low display rates. It was concluded that females prefer conspicuous males only if all males exhibit equal courtship display rates. The frequency of male color patterns in a population did affect reproductive success. Males with rare color patterns sired more offspring than expected given their frequency. The mechanism by which a rare male effect was achieved depended on the relative mating success of phenotypes in control populations (all phenotypes occurring with equal frequency). If a normally preferred phenotype was rare, females continued to prefer that phenotype over the common phenotype. If a normally unpreferred phenotype was rare, females mated with that phenotype in addition to the preferred phenotype, and the rare male effect was thus achieved by multiple inseminations. Females also tended to mate with more than one male in polymorphic populations, and it was concluded that certain female choice patterns with frequent multiple inseminations can maintain a polymorphism in addition to a pure rare male effect. It was hypothesized that courtship displays and conspicuous male coloration are sexually selected characters which evolved in response to the occupation of invariable habitats or specialized ecological niches by a sexually monomorphic ancestor with only gonopodial thrusting as a means of inseminating females. A subsequent reinvasion of variable habitats resulted in female choice mechanisms which maximize the level of heterozygosity of their offspring, thus resulting in polymorphic populations. The coloration of male guppies is a phenotypic cue which influences female choice in such a manner that they mate with those males with whom they most probably have the fewest genes in common.

scholarly journals Losses of female song with changes from tropical to temperate breeding in the New World blackbirds

2009 ◽  
Vol 276 (1664) ◽  
pp. 1971-1980 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Jordan Price ◽  
Scott M. Lanyon ◽  
Kevin E. Omland
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
New World ◽  
Female Song ◽  
Complex Song ◽  
Evolutionary Changes ◽  
Apparent Relationship ◽  
Song Production ◽  
Selection For ◽  
The Tropics

Birds in which both sexes produce complex songs are thought to be more common in the tropics than in temperate areas, where typically only males sing. Yet the role of phylogeny in this apparent relationship between female song and latitude has never been examined. Here, we reconstruct evolutionary changes in female song and breeding latitude in the New World blackbirds (Icteridae), a family with both temperate and tropical representatives. We provide strong evidence that members of this group have moved repeatedly from tropical to temperate breeding ranges and, furthermore, that these range shifts were associated with losses of female song more often than expected by chance. This historical perspective suggests that male-biased song production in many temperate species is the result not of sexual selection for complex song in males but of selection against such songs in females. Our results provide new insights into the differences we see today between tropical and temperate songbirds, and suggest that the role of sexual selection in the evolution of bird song might not be as simple as we think.

scholarly journals Imminent risk of predation reduces the relative strength of postcopulatory sexual selection in the guppy

2020 ◽  
Vol 375 (1813) ◽  
pp. 20200076
Author(s):  
Alexandra Glavaschi ◽  
Silvia Cattelan ◽  
Alessandro Grapputo ◽  
Andrea Pilastro
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Sperm Production ◽  
Postcopulatory Sexual Selection ◽  
Repeated Measures Design ◽  
Risk Of Predation ◽  
Livebearing Fish

Fifty years of research on sperm competition has led to a very good understanding of the interspecific variation in sperm production traits. The reasons why this variation is often very large within populations have been less investigated. We suggest that the interaction between fluctuating environmental conditions and polyandry is a key phenomenon explaining such variation. We focus here on imminent predation risk (IPR). IPR impacts significantly several aspects of prey behaviour and reproduction, and it is expected to influence the operation of sexual selection before and after mating. We estimated the effect of IPR on the male opportunity for pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection in guppies ( Poecilia reticulata ), a livebearing fish where females prefer colourful males and mate multiply. We used a repeated-measures design, in which males were allowed to mate with different females either under IPR or in a predator-free condition. We found that IPR increased the total opportunity for sexual selection and reduced the relative contribution of postcopulatory sexual selection to male reproductive success. IPR is inherently variable and our results suggest that interspecific reproductive interference by predators may contribute towards maintaining the variation in sperm production within populations. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Fifty years of sperm competition'.

scholarly journals Experimental reduction in dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids depresses sperm competitiveness

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 20140623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Md. Moshiur Rahman ◽  
Clelia Gasparini ◽  
Giovanni M. Turchini ◽  
Jonathan P. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Fatty Acids ◽  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids ◽  
Dietary Intake ◽  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Reproductive Fitness ◽  
Omega 3 ◽  
Adequate Intake ◽  
Abundant Evidence ◽  
Long Chain

The health benefits of diets containing rich sources of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3 LC-PUFA) are well documented and include reductions in the risk of several diseases typical of Western societies. The dietary intake of n-3 LC-PUFA has also been linked to fertility, and there is abundant evidence that a range of ejaculate traits linked to fertility in humans, livestock and other animals depend on an adequate intake of n-3 LC-PUFA from dietary sources. However, relatively few studies have explored how n-3 LC-PUFA influence reproductive fitness, particularly in the context of sexual selection. Here, we show that experimental reduction in the level of n-3 LC-PUFA in the diet of guppies ( Poecilia reticulata ) depresses a male's share of paternity when sperm compete for fertilization, confirming that the currently observed trend for reduced n-3 LC-PUFA in western diets has important implications for individual reproductive fitness.

Sexual Selection for Male Sacrifice in the Australian Redback Spider

Science ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 271 (5245) ◽  
pp. 70-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. C. B. Andrade
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Selection For

Disruptive sexual selection for plumage coloration in a passerine bird

Nature ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 407 (6807) ◽  
pp. 1000-1003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erick Greene ◽  
Bruce E. Lyon ◽  
Vincent R. Muehter ◽  
Laurene Ratcliffe ◽  
Steven J. Oliver ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Passerine Bird ◽  
Plumage Coloration ◽  
Selection For

scholarly journals Macroevolutionary consequences of sexual conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 20180186
Author(s):  
Jo S. Hermansen ◽  
Jostein Starrfelt ◽  
Kjetil L. Voje ◽  
Nils C. Stenseth
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Genetic Architecture ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Sexual Conflicts ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Evolutionary Consequences ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Shared Genetic

Intralocus sexual conflicts arise whenever the fitness optima for a trait expressed in both males and females differ between the sexes and shared genetic architecture constrains the sexes from evolving independently towards their respective optima. Such sexual conflicts are commonplace in nature, yet their long-term evolutionary consequences remain unexplored. Using a Bayesian phylogenetic comparative framework, we studied the macroevolutionary dynamics of intersexual trait integration in stalk-eyed flies (Diopsidae) spanning a time frame of more than 25 Myr. We report that increased intensity of sexual selection on male eyestalks is associated with reduced intersexual eyestalk integration, as well as sex-specific rates of eyestalk evolution. Despite this, lineages where males have been under strong sexual selection for millions of years still exhibit high levels of intersexual trait integration. This low level of decoupling between the sexes may indicate that exaggerated female eyestalks are in fact adaptive—or alternatively, that there are strong constraints on reducing trait integration between the sexes. Future work should seek to clarify the relative roles of constraints and selection in contributing to the varying levels of intersexual trait integration in stalk-eyed flies, and in this way clarify whether sexual conflicts can act as constraints on adaptive evolution even on macroevolutionary time scales.

scholarly journals Divergence in social traits in Trinidadian guppies selectively bred for high and low leadership in a cooperative context

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Dimitriadou ◽  
D. P. Croft ◽  
S. K. Darden
Keyword(s):  
Poecilia Reticulata ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Selective Breeding ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Phenotypic Selection ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Moderate Degree ◽  
Social Traits ◽  
Trinidadian Guppy ◽  
Selection For

AbstractIn many animal species, individuals with certain morphological, physiological, or behavioural traits may have a disproportionately large role in determining group behaviour. While most empirical studies of leadership have focused on behaviour of individuals exploring new environments or foraging, little is known about leading behaviour in other ecological contexts. Here, we use a selective breeding design in the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) to quantify the heritability of leadership in a cooperative context, and determine the behavioural traits associated with it. Firstly we found that phenotypic selection for high and low leadership (HL and LL, respectively) over three filial generations resulted in pronounced differences in leadership tendency with a moderate degree of heritability. In our assay of other social traits, LL males were more aggressive and sampled their social environment less than HL males, but HL and LL females did not differ in either aggressiveness or sociability. Traits such as boldness and exploratory tendency did not diverge between the two lines. Leading behaviour was thus associated with social traits in males, but not females; suggesting that there may be sex-specific mechanisms driving the emergence of leadership in this context. We discuss our findings in the context of the evolution of cooperation.

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