scholarly journals No evidence of inbreeding avoidance in a polygynous ungulate: the reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus )

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Øystein Holand ◽  
Kjartan R Askim ◽  
Knut H Røed ◽  
Robert B Weladji ◽  
Hallvard Gjøstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Rangifer Tarandus ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Mating Partner ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Mating Group ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Actual Choice

In polygynous species, mate choice is an integrated part of sexual selection. However, whether mate choice occurs independently of the genetic relatedness among mating pairs has received little attention, although inbreeding may have fitness consequences. We studied whether genetic relatedness influenced females' choice of partner in a highly polygynous ungulate—the reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus )—in an experimental herd during two consecutive rutting seasons; the herd consisting of 75 females in 1999 and 74 females in 2000 was exposed to three 4.5-year-old adults and three 1.5-year-old young males, respectively. The females' distribution during peak rut was not influenced by their genetic relatedness with the dominant males of the mating groups. Further, genetic relatedness did not influence the actual choice of mating partner. We conclude that inbreeding avoidance through mating group choice as well as choice of mating partner, two interconnected processes of female mate choice operating at two different scales in space and time, in such a highly female-biased reindeer populations with low level of inbreeding may not occur.

Show me you care: female mate choice based on egg attendance rather than male or territorial traits

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1054-1064 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anyelet Valencia-Aguilar ◽  
Kelly R Zamudio ◽  
Célio F B Haddad ◽  
Steve M Bogdanowicz ◽  
Cynthia P A Prado
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Female Mate

Abstract Female mate choice is often based on male traits, including signals or behaviors, and/or the quality of a male’s territory. In species with obligate paternal care, where care directly affects offspring survival, females may also base their mate choices on the quality of a sire’s care. Here, we quantified male reproductive success in a natural population of the glass frog Hyalinobatrachium cappellei, a species with male parental care, to determine the influence of territory quality, male traits, and paternal care behaviors on female mate choice. We found that attending males have a higher chance of gaining new clutches than nonattending males. Our results indicate that females do not select males based only on body condition, calling persistence, or territory traits. Instead, our findings support the hypothesis that females choose males based on care status. Indeed, males already attending a clutch were 70% more likely to obtain another clutch, and the time to acquire an additional clutch was significantly shorter. We also found that males adjust their parental care effort in response to genetic relatedness by caring only for their own offspring; however, remaining close to unrelated clutches serves as a strategy to attract females and increase chances of successful mating. Thus, males that establish territories that already contain clutches benefit from the signal eggs provide to females.

Female dispersal, inbreeding avoidance and mate choice in Thomas langurs (Presbytis thomasi)

Behaviour ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 142 (7) ◽  
pp. 845-868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan A.R.A.M van Hooff ◽  
Erik P. Willems ◽  
Serge A. Wich ◽  
Elizabeth H.M. Sterck
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Predation Risk ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Female Dispersal ◽  
Presbytis Thomasi ◽  
Offspring Protection

AbstractFemale social dispersal in primates differs from the general mammalian pattern of locational dispersal. Both nulliparous and parous females may disperse to another group. Several hypotheses can explain female social dispersal: reduction of predation risk, inbreeding avoidance, and offspring protection through mate choice. We tested these hypotheses with an extended data set of Thomas langurs (Presbytis thomasi) and investigated parameters of male behaviour that females may use in their dispersal decisions. Data were collected over a 12.5-year period from a wild population in Sumatra, Indonesia, allowing for some critical tests of the hypotheses. Females dispersed to a group smaller than their original one, thereby refuting the predation risk hypothesis. Maturing nulliparous females only dispersed when their father was resident. Therefore, dispersal by nulliparous females was best explained through inbreeding avoidance. Parous females transferred to young, adult males. These males provided better protection to offspring against predation and infanticide than the old, late tenure males. Therefore, females transfer to better protector males. The male behavioural cues that females use to assess male quality were unclear. Females, however, may use proxies of male age, such as group composition and acoustical characteristics of loud calls, as indicators of male quality. The results suggest that female mate choice is an important function of social dispersal by parous females. Its importance in locational dispersal remains to be investigated.

Sexual Selection and Sexual Conflict in Crustaceans

2020 ◽  
pp. 305-331
Author(s):  
Rickey Cothran
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Sensory Structures ◽  
Context Shapes

Research using crustaceans has improved the understanding of sexual selection and sexual conflict. This is particularly true for understanding the biology of male weaponry and sexual conflict over mate guarding. Male crustaceans often are equipped with exaggerated claws that they use to monopolize access to females or resources that females use for reproduction. However, these weapons are often used in other contexts, e.g. mate choice and coercion of females, and understanding their evolution requires a broader perspective of how these traits are built and the fitness consequences of their use for both the bearer and interacting individuals. Although less well studied than male weaponry, crustaceans also provide excellent examples of elaborate sensory structures that are used in scramble competition among males for females. In addition to studies on male-male competition, crustaceans have been well represented in research on intrasexual selection (for the most part, female mate choice). Crustacean females use a variety of sensory channels to assess mates, and a challenge is to better understand what is being conveyed by signaling males and the fitness consequences of mate choice for females. In some cases the female’s sensory system appears to be exploited by males, and this could lead to sexual conflict over mating. Research on crustaceans has also informed the understanding of sexual conflict over mate guarding, including the evolution of traits used to resolve conflict and how the ecological context shapes the costs and benefits of guarding for both sexes.

Inbreeding avoidance and female mate choice shape reproductive skew in capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus imitator)

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 653-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva C. Wikberg ◽  
Katharine M. Jack ◽  
Linda M. Fedigan ◽  
Fernando A. Campos ◽  
Akiko S. Yashima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Cebus Capucinus ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
Capuchin Monkeys ◽  
Female Mate

Genetic similarity, not male size, influences female mate choice in the agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis)

2006 ◽  
Vol 54 (5) ◽  
pp. 319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marissa L. Parrott ◽  
Simon J. Ward ◽  
Peter D. Temple-Smith
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Small Male ◽  
Male Size ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Simultaneous Choice ◽  
Antechinus Agilis ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Species Specific

Our research investigates the effects of genetic relatedness between mates and male size on female mate choice in the agile antechinus (Antechinus agilis). Females were provided with a simultaneous choice between one large and one small male, with a minimum 5 g (~20% of male weight) difference between males, in specially designed mate-choice enclosures. Genetic relatedness between males and females was determined using highly polymorphic, species-specific, microsatellite markers. Male size did not influence mate choice, with approximately equal numbers of large and small males chosen. Females chose males that were more genetically dissimilar to themselves significantly more times and showed significantly more sexual and non-exploratory behaviours near the genetically dissimilar males. The results show that, when free female mate choice is possible, female agile antechinus choose males on the basis of genetic relatedness, rather than male size.

Inbreeding avoidance and mate choice in the mandarin vole (Microtus mandarinus)

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (12) ◽  
pp. 2119-2125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tai Fadao ◽  
Wang Tingzheng ◽  
Zhao Yajun
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Kin Recognition ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Main Mechanism ◽  
Matched Pair ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Significant Preference ◽  
Mandarin Vole

Five experiments were conducted to test the performance of adult mandarin voles (Microtus mandarinus) in discriminating and preferring siblings versus nonsiblings raised in different conditions. The results indicate that adult males and estrous females displayed a significant preference for individuals raised by other parents over those raised by the same parent, regardless of genetic relatedness. The effect appears to depend on the presence of siblings during development. This shows that familiarity through association before weaning plays an important role in kin recognition. The preference of reproductively active mandarin voles for unfamiliar voles is interpreted as inbreeding avoidance. Although Wilcoxon's matched-pair tests showed no significant preferences of adult mandarin voles for siblings over nonsiblings raised by the same parents or by other parents, mean durations of visiting, mounting, and lying near nonsiblings were higher than those for siblings. This implies that genetic relatedness may have some effect on kin recognition, although familiarity is the main mechanism.

Female Choice in Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warbler (Locustella Ochotensis)

The Auk ◽  
1986 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 694-700 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hisashi Nagata
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Food Abundance ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Territory Quality ◽  
Female Mate ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Grasshopper Warbler

Abstract Morphological and territorial factors that influence female mate choice were examined in the monogamous Middendorff's Grasshopper-Warbler (Locustella ochotensis) on an islet near Fukuoka, Japan. I assumed that pairing date corresponded with female mate choice. Pairing date was correlated with both territory size and food abundance but was not correlated with selected morphological characteristics of males. Territorial quality was assumed to be correlated with territory size because preferable food resources and nest sites were distributed randomly. I conclude that female mate choice was influenced by territory quality rather than by the morphological characteristics of males.

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