scholarly journals Adaptive genetic complementarity in mate choice coexists with selection for elaborate sexual traits

2006 ◽  
Vol 273 (1596) ◽  
pp. 1913-1919 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin P Oh ◽  
Alexander V Badyaev
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Genetic Complementarity

scholarly journals Within-generation and transgenerational plasticity of mate choice in oceanic stickleback under climate change

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1768) ◽  
pp. 20180183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukas Fuxjäger ◽  
Sylvia Wanzenböck ◽  
Eva Ringler ◽  
K. Mathias Wegner ◽  
Harald Ahnelt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Environmental Change ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Gasterosteus Aculeatus ◽  
Ocean Warming ◽  
Acclimation Temperature ◽  
Transgenerational Plasticity ◽  
Developmental Temperature ◽  
Sexual Traits

Plasticity, both within and across generations, can shape sexual traits involved in mate choice and reproductive success, and thus direct measures of fitness. Especially, transgenerational plasticity (TGP), where parental environment influences offspring plasticity in future environments, could compensate for otherwise negative effects of environmental change on offspring sexual traits. We conducted a mate choice experiment using stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ) with different thermal histories (ambient 17°C or elevated 21°C) within and across generations under simulated ocean warming using outdoor mesocosms. Parentage analysis of egg clutches revealed that maternal developmental temperature and reproductive (mesocosm) environment affected egg size, with females that developed at 17°C laying smaller eggs in 21°C mesocosms, likely owing to metabolic costs at elevated temperature. Paternal developmental temperature interacted with the reproductive environment to influence mating success, particularly under simulated ocean warming, with males that developed at 21°C showing lower overall mating success compared with 17°C males, but higher mating success in 21°C mesocosms. Furthermore, mating success of males was influenced by the interaction between F1 developmental temperature and F0 parent acclimation temperature, demonstrating the potential role of both TGP and within-generation plasticity in shaping traits involved in sexual selection and mate choice, potentially facilitating rapid responses to environmental change. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The role of plasticity in phenotypic adaptation to rapid environmental change’.

scholarly journals Adiposity, compared with masculinity, serves as a more valid cue to immunocompetence in human mate choice

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1751) ◽  
pp. 20122495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus J. Rantala ◽  
Vinet Coetzee ◽  
Fhionna R. Moore ◽  
Ilona Skrinda ◽  
Sanita Kecko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Good Genes ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Genetic Quality ◽  
Secondary Sexual Trait ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Handicap Hypothesis ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Secondary Sexual

According to the ‘good genes’ hypothesis, females choose males based on traits that indicate the male's genetic quality in terms of disease resistance. The ‘immunocompetence handicap hypothesis’ proposed that secondary sexual traits serve as indicators of male genetic quality, because they indicate that males can contend with the immunosuppressive effects of testosterone. Masculinity is commonly assumed to serve as such a secondary sexual trait. Yet, women do not consistently prefer masculine looking men, nor is masculinity consistently related to health across studies. Here, we show that adiposity, but not masculinity, significantly mediates the relationship between a direct measure of immune response (hepatitis B antibody response) and attractiveness for both body and facial measurements. In addition, we show that circulating testosterone is more closely associated with adiposity than masculinity. These findings indicate that adiposity, compared with masculinity, serves as a more important cue to immunocompetence in female mate choice.

Intersexual differences in chemosensory responses to selected lipids reveal different messages conveyed by femoral secretions of male Iberian rock lizards

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 572-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pilar López ◽  
José Martín
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Tongue Flick ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Chemical Traits ◽  
Femoral Secretions

AbstractThe effects of intrasexual selection (i.e., male-male competition) and intersexual selection (i.e., mate choice) may result on the evolution of different secondary sexual traits. We tested whether chemosensory responses of male and female Iberolacerta cyreni lizards to femoral secretion of conspecific males (a chemical sexual trait used in social behavior) were eliciting by different chemical traits. Tongue-flick essays showed that males and females had similar chemosensory responses to the femoral secretions of males, but males and females differed in the magnitude of their chemosensory responses to the different chemicals found in secretions. Moreover, responses to chemicals related to body size depended on the own body size of the responding male, but did not in females. These results might support that femoral secretions of males convey different messages for male or female I. cyreni lizards.

3. Choosing from the field of competitors

2018 ◽  
pp. 34-51
Author(s):  
Leigh W. Simmons
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Contemporary View ◽  
Sexual Characteristics ◽  
Sexual Traits ◽  
Secondary Sexual

There is now unequivocal evidence for Darwin’s long-rejected suggestion that females choose among potential mates based on their secondary sexual traits. This has shifted attention from the question of whether females exercised mate choice, to why they should exhibit the mating preferences they do. ‘Choosing from the field of competitors’ gives a contemporary view of mate choice and its occurrence in a wide variety of animal species, along with some examples of what females are choosing and why parasites and disease may play a role in the evolution of extravagant secondary sexual characteristics. Several theoretical models are discussed along with the role of sexual selection in the evolution of humans.

scholarly journals Evidence that female preferences have shaped male signal evolution in a clade of specialized plant-feeding insects

2006 ◽  
Vol 273 (1601) ◽  
pp. 2585-2593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rafael L Rodríguez ◽  
Karthik Ramaswamy ◽  
Reginald B Cocroft
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Sexual Communication ◽  
Population Divergence ◽  
Signal Evolution ◽  
Plant Feeding ◽  
Female Preferences ◽  
Sexual Traits

Mate choice is considered an important influence in the evolution of mating signals and other sexual traits, and—since divergence in sexual traits causes reproductive isolation—it can be an agent of population divergence. The importance of mate choice in signal evolution can be evaluated by comparing male signal traits with female preference functions, taking into account the shape and strength of preferences. Specifically, when preferences are closed (favouring intermediate values), there should be a correlation between the preferred values and the trait means, and stronger preferences should be associated with greater preference–signal correspondence and lower signal variability. When preferences are open (favouring extreme values), signal traits are not only expected to be more variable, but should also be shifted towards the preferred values. We tested the role of female preferences in signal evolution in the Enchenopa binotata species complex of treehoppers, a clade of plant-feeding insects hypothesized to have speciated in sympatry. We found the expected relationship between signals and preferences, implicating mate choice as an agent of signal evolution. Because differences in sexual communication systems lead to reproductive isolation, the factors that promote divergence in female preferences—and, consequently, in male signals—may have an important role in the process of speciation.

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