Females can solve the problem of low signal reliability by assessing multiple male traits

Abigail K. Wegehaupt; William E. Wagner

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2017.0386

Females can solve the problem of low signal reliability by assessing multiple male traits

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2017.0386 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (9) ◽

pp. 20170386

Author(s):

Abigail K. Wegehaupt ◽

William E. Wagner

Keyword(s):

Field Cricket ◽

Chirp Rate ◽

High Quality ◽

Signal Reliability ◽

Strong Signal ◽

Direct Benefits ◽

Gryllus Lineaticeps ◽

Male Signals ◽

Multiple Male

Male signals that provide information to females about mating benefits are often of low reliability. It is thus not clear why females often express strong signal preferences. We tested the hypothesis that females can distinguish between males with preferred signals that provide lower and higher quality direct benefits. In the field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps , females usually prefer higher male chirp rates, but chirp rate is positively correlated with the fecundity benefits females will receive from males only for males that have experienced low quality diets. We paired females with muted males that were maintained on low or high nutrition diets, during the interactions we broadcast a replacement high chirp rate, and we observed whether females mated with the assigned male. Females were more likely to mate when paired with low nutrition males. These results suggest that females have evolved assessment mechanisms that allow them distinguish between males with preferred signals that provide high quality benefits (low nutrition males with high chirp rates) and males with preferred signals that provide low quality benefits (high nutrition males with high chirp rates).

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False promises: females spurn cheating males in a field cricket

Biology Letters ◽

10.1098/rsbl.2007.0225 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 379-381 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

William E Wagner ◽

Andrew R Smith ◽

Alexandra L Basolo

Keyword(s):

Female Choice ◽

Seminal Fluid ◽

Field Cricket ◽

Direct Benefits ◽

Material Benefits ◽

Female Behaviour ◽

Gryllus Lineaticeps ◽

Correlated Signals ◽

Male Signals

Females commonly prefer to mate with males that provide greater material benefits, which they often select using correlated male signals. When females select higher-benefit males based on correlated signals, however, males can potentially deceive females by producing exaggerated signals of benefit quality. The handicap mechanism can prevent lower-quality males from producing exaggerated signals, but cannot prevent cheating by higher-quality males that choose to withhold the benefit, and this poses a major problem for the evolution of female choice based on direct benefits. In a field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps , females receive seminal fluid products from males with preferred songs that increase their fecundity and lifespan. We tested the hypothesis that female behaviour penalizes males that provide lower-quality benefits. When females were paired with males that varied in benefit quality but had experimentally imposed average songs, they were less likely to re-mate with males that provided lower-quality benefits in the initial mating. This type of conditional female re-mating may be a widespread mechanism that penalizes males that cheat on direct benefits.

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Computer Animations as a Tool in the Study of Mating Preferences

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/156853998792913537 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 135 (8) ◽

pp. 1137-1159 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Theo Bakker ◽

Reto Künzler

Keyword(s):

Computer Animation ◽

Preference Test ◽

Experimental Manipulation ◽

Mating Preferences ◽

Computer Animations ◽

Female Mating ◽

Confounding Variables ◽

Female Mating Preferences ◽

Male Signals ◽

Multiple Male

AbstractThe study of multiple female mating preferences and multiple male signals requires correct and precise measurement of preferences. A review is given of existing preference test paradigms. Non-interactive preference tests using computer animations perfectly fulfil the demands for the study of multiple preferences for visual traits: exclusion of confounding variables, exclusion of variation within and between male pairs, great potential of experimental manipulation of single and combinations of visual traits including behaviour. We give a detailed description for the production of computer animation movies based on commercial software. Finally, we show how computer animations can be properly applied to the testing of mating preferences. In sticklebacks, female mating preferences that were tested in this way agreed with preferences that were measured with other test paradigms.

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Delayed Breeding in Avian Social Systems: the Role of Territory Quality and "Floater" Tactics

Behaviour ◽

10.1163/156853992x00020 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 123 (3-4) ◽

pp. 194-219 ◽

Cited By ~ 109

Author(s):

Bridget J. Stutchbury ◽

Steve Zack

Keyword(s):

Social Systems ◽

Breeding Site ◽

Home Ranges ◽

Territory Quality ◽

High Quality ◽

Direct Benefits ◽

Potential Applications ◽

Site Tenacity ◽

Colonial Breeding ◽

A Site

AbstractIn many avian societies, young birds delay breeding beyond the age of sexual maturity. Most previous hypotheses of delayed breeding have emphasized forces that keep young birds from becoming breeders. We develop a model of delayed breeding which includes the future acquisition of a high quality territory as a potential direct benefit of delayed breeding. Strong differences in territory quality, age-correlated asymmetries in resource holding potential, and territory site tenacity set the stage for young birds to either breed immediately on a poor territory, or obtain a high quality territory through reproductive delay on or near the site. A wide variety of species and social organizations reveal common patterns of breeding status acquisition through behaviours as nonbreeders with site tenacity on or immediately near the breeding site. A review of 'floater' strategies reveals that nonbreeders frequently have restricted home ranges that encompass one or more breeding territories, and prior experience at a site improves their chances of acquiring a territory in future years. This pattern of territory acquisition argues for incorporating direct benefits into models of delayed breeding. We discuss the potential applications to understanding delayed breeding in social systems as apparently different as cooperatively-breeding birds, migratory passerines, colonial breeding gulls, and lek-breeding grouse and manakins.

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Mutual mate choice and its benefits for both sexes

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-020-76615-z ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Alicia Reyes-Ramírez ◽

Iván Antonio Sandoval-García ◽

Maya Rocha-Ortega ◽

Alex Córdoba-Aguilar

Keyword(s):

Mate Choice ◽

Negative Impact ◽

Good Condition ◽

High Quality ◽

Poor Condition ◽

Direct Benefits ◽

Mutual Mate Choice ◽

Males And Females ◽

High Condition ◽

Individual Condition

Abstract In mating interactions, it is common in nature for both sexes to choose simultaneously. However, this mutual mate choice and its consequences for progeny has received relatively little study; an approach where both male and female condition is manipulated is thus desirable. We compared both sexes’ preferences in Tenebrio molitor beetles when individual condition varied (healthy vs infected with a fungus), and observed the direct benefits of those preferences. We predicted that: (a) females and males in good condition would prefer high quality mates; (b) preferences would be weaker when the choosing individual is in poor condition (and thus less selective given, for example, time and energetic constrains); and, (c) high quality mates would lay a larger number of total eggs and/or viable eggs than low quality mates. We found that both males and females in good condition were not more likely to choose mates that were also in good condition. However, poor-condition animals were more likely to prefer similar quality animals, while high-condition animals did not necessarily prefer mates of similar condition. Choosing sick males or females had a negative impact on egg number and viability. Our results suggest a non-adaptive mate choice in this species. Possibly, a deteriorated condition may drive individuals to invest more in attracting mates, because their chances of surviving the infection are very low. However, we do not discount the possibility that the fungus is manipulating individuals to increase its transmission during mating.

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A model of the interaction between ‘good genes’ and direct benefits in courtship-feeding animals: when do males of high genetic quality invest less?

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2001.0922 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 357 (1419) ◽

pp. 309-317 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

L. F. Bussière

Keyword(s):

Sexual Selection ◽

Simple Model ◽

Parental Investment ◽

Good Genes ◽

High Quality ◽

Genetic Quality ◽

Individual Female ◽

Female Partners ◽

Direct Benefits ◽

Courtship Feeding

Conflict between mates over the amount of parental investment by each partner is probably the rule except in rare cases of genetic monogamy. In systems with parental care, males may frequently benefit by providing smaller investments than are optimal for individual female partners. Females are therefore expected to choose males that will provide the largest amounts of parental investment. In some species, however, the preferred males provide less care than their rivals. Focusing on species in which males invest by feeding their mates, I use a simple model to demonstrate the conditions under which males preferred by females may have optimal donations that are smaller than those of less–preferred rivals. Pre–mating female choice may sufficiently bias the perception of mate availability of preferred males relative to their rivals such that preferred males gain by conserving resources for future matings. Similarly, ‘cryptic’ biases in favour of high–quality ejaculates by females can compensate for smaller than average donations received from preferred males. However, post–fertilization cryptic choice should not change the optimal donations of preferred males relative to their rivals. I discuss the implications of this work for understanding sexual selection in courtship–feeding animals, and the relevance of these systems to understanding patterns of investment for animals in general.

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Alternation calling and spacing patterns in the field cricket Acanthogryllus fortipes (Orthoptera; Gryllidae)

Canadian Journal of Zoology ◽

10.1139/z82-368 ◽

1982 ◽

Vol 60 (11) ◽

pp. 2916-2920 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

William H. Cade ◽

Daniel Otte

Keyword(s):

South Africa ◽

Field Cricket ◽

Field Observations ◽

Chirp Rate ◽

Nearest Neighbour ◽

Playback Experiments ◽

Field Crickets ◽

The Republic

Field observations and experiments in the Republic of South Africa demonstrated that burrowing male field crickets, Acanthogryllus fortipes, call in alternation by singing during the interval of silence in a neighbour's song. Alternating males had a chirp rate which was 30 to 60% that of nonaltrnating males. Rapidly singing and nonalternating males responded to taped playbacks of conspecific song by reducing their chirp rate to match that of a loudspeaker. Alternation calling is observed after sunset. Males do not alternate when they begin singing during the day. Nearest neighbour analyses of calling males and of cricket burrows show that calling males are spatially aggregated, but that burrows or potential signaling sites are not localized. In playback experiments where the loudspeaker to male distance was repeatedly reduced, males called at distances comparable to those separating actual males. Males became silent, however, when the loudspeaker was moved inside of the minimum intermale distance observed in the field. Spacing patterns are more compact in A. fortipes, a deep burrowing species, than in other gryllines, and A. fortipes is the only cricket species in which alternation of male calls has been demonstrated experimentally.

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