scholarly journals Plasticity of the mate choice mind: courtship evokes choice-like brain responses in females from a coercive mating system

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 365-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. T. Wang ◽  
M. E. Ramsey ◽  
M. E. Cummings
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Coercive Mating

scholarly journals Mate Choice, Sex Roles and Sexual Cognition in Vertebrates: Mate Choice Turns Cognition or Cognition Turns Mate Choice?

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodora Fuss
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Sex Roles ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Antipredator Behavior ◽  
Energy Levels ◽  
Problem Solver

The idea of “smart is sexy,” meaning superior cognition provides competitive benefits in mate choice and, therefore, evolutionary advantages in terms of reproductive fitness, is both exciting and captivating. Cognitively flexible individuals perceive and adapt more dynamically to (unpredictable) environmental changes. The sex roles that females and males adopt within their populations can vary greatly in response to the prevalent mating system. Based on how cognition determines these grossly divergent sex roles, different selection pressures could possibly shape the (progressive) evolution of cognitive abilities, suggesting the potential to induce sexual dimorphisms in superior cognitive abilities. Associations between an individual’s mating success, sexual traits and its cognitive abilities have been found consistently across vertebrate species and taxa, providing evidence that sexual selection may well shape the supporting cognitive prerequisites. Yet, while superior cognitive abilities provide benefits such as higher feeding success, improved antipredator behavior, or more favorable mate choice, they also claim costs such as higher energy levels and metabolic rates, which in turn may reduce fecundity, growth, or immune response. There is compelling evidence in a variety of vertebrate taxa that females appear to prefer skilled problem-solver males, i.e., they prefer those that appear to have better cognitive abilities. Consequently, cognition is also likely to have substantial effects on sexual selection processes. How the choosing sex assesses the cognitive abilities of potential mates has not been explored conclusively yet. Do cognitive skills guide an individual’s mate choice and does learning change an individual’s mate choice decisions? How and to which extent do individuals use their own cognitive skills to assess those of their conspecifics when choosing a mate? How does an individual’s role within a mating system influence the choice of the choosing sex in this context? Drawing on several examples from the vertebrate world, this review aims to elucidate various aspects associated with cognitive sex differences, the different roles of males and females in social and sexual interactions, and the potential influence of cognition on mate choice decisions. Finally, future perspectives aim to identify ways to answer the central question of how the triad of sex, cognition, and mate choice interacts.

Mating System, Mate Choice and Ultrasonic Calling in a Zaprochiline Katydid (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

Behaviour ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 105 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 202-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Winston J. Bailey ◽  
Darryl T. Gwynne
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mating System

scholarly journals No evidence that male sexual experience increases mating success in a coercive mating system

2019 ◽  
Vol 150 ◽  
pp. 201-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maider Iglesias-Carrasco ◽  
Rebecca J. Fox ◽  
Alan Vincent ◽  
Megan L. Head ◽  
Michael D. Jennions
Keyword(s):  
Mating System ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Sexual Experience ◽  
Coercive Mating

Mating system, mate choice and parental care in a bark beetle

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 (5) ◽  
pp. 611-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. Baruch ◽  
Z. Mendel ◽  
I. Scharf ◽  
A. R Harari
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Bark Beetle ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Male Body Size

AbstractThe cypress bark beetle,Phloeosinus armatus, is a common element of the dying cypress tree system in East-Mediterranean countries. Adult beetles congregate for breeding on this ephemeral resource. We studied three traits that characterize this beetle's sexual behavior and linked them to its reproductive success: mating system, mate choice, and parental care. We found that the females are the ‘pioneering sex’, excavating the mating chamber. The average female is slightly larger than the male, and female and male body size is correlated, demonstrating size-assortative mating. The time it takes for a male to enter the mating chamber is positively correlated with female size and negatively correlated with its own size, which is perhaps responsible for this assortative mating. Males remain in the gallery during the period of oviposition, gradually leaving soon after the eggs hatch. The number of eggs laid and tunnel length are positively correlated with male body size. Finally, in the presence of both parents, more eggs are laid than when the female alone is present, demonstrating the important contribution of biparental care for reproductive success. We suggest that the interaction between a monogamous mating system, assortative mating, and biparental care contributes to reproductive success.

Modeling Mating Patterns Given Mutual Mate Choice: The Importance of Individual Mating Preferences and Mating System

2003 ◽  
Vol 11 (03) ◽  
pp. 205-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Bessa-Gomes ◽  
Jean Clobert ◽  
Stéphane Legendre ◽  
Anders Pape Møller
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Population Biology ◽  
Structured Populations ◽  
Operational Sex Ratio ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Mating Patterns ◽  
Single Sex ◽  
Individual Mating

When we consider structured populations with sexual reproduction, the distribution of characters among mating pairs may influence the population biology, namely its dynamics and genetics. In the present paper, we propose a general framework to estimate the population mating patterns taking into account individual mating preferences and mating system, thus taking into account the inter- and intra-sexual interactions such as mate competition and mate choice. According to our results, mating patterns are not a direct reflection of mating preferences, but also depend upon the average sex ratio between individuals that are ready to mate at any given time (i.e., the Operational Sex Ratio, OSR). Therefore, mating patterns should be assessed not only in function of preferences, but also of OSR. It is then possible to distinguish three OSR regions: (1) the equilibrium OSR, where there is a predominance of assortative mating patterns due to differential access to mates (inter-sexual interactions); (2) the slightly biased OSR, where there is a high diversity of mating patterns and no clear predominance of inter- or intra-sexual interactions; and (3) the highly biased OSR where there is a predominance of mating patterns corresponding to single-sex uniform preferences and an increased influence of intra-sexual interactions. We hope that this approach may allow to further explore the interaction between OSR and mate choice, namely how such interaction may affect sexual selection and mate choice tactics.

Pollinator behaviour, mate choice and the realised mating systems of Grevillea mucronulata and Grevillea sphacelata

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew B. G. Richardson ◽  
David J. Ayre ◽  
Robert J. Whelan
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Fruit Set ◽  
Electrophoretic Analysis ◽  
Population Variation ◽  
Pollinator Behaviour ◽  
High Level ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Pollination Systems

Successful long-term conservation and management of populations of plants requires successful management of the suite of factors that determine their ‘realised’ mating systems. Within the genus Grevillea, mating systems are potentially complex. They may vary among species and among populations within a species, reflecting variation in pollinator behaviour and diversity (‘potential’ mating systems) and in breeding system (the ‘preferred’ mating system). We used a combination of pollinator observations, pollination experiments and electrophoretic analysis of seed from open pollinations, to examine variation in potential and preferred mating systems in two populations of each of two ‘spider-flowered’ Grevillea species: G. mucronulata (visited by honeyeaters and honeybees, although only birds effected pollen removal and transfer) and G. sphacelata (visited only by honeybees, which made frequent contact with pollen and stigmas). Almost all observed bird and insect foraging bouts on either species involved movements among inflorescences within plants or among inflorescences on closely neighbouring plants. On the basis of these data, the mating system was predicted to involve a high level of selfing or inbreeding. However, the pollination experiment revealed that both species were highly self-incompatible and showed a clear preference for outcross pollen in mate-choice experiments. For both species, fruit set through autogamy was lower than 0.7% and fruit set from self-pollinations was always significantly lower than for outcross pollinations (0–11% cf. 25–33% for G. mucronulata and 0% cf. 4.2–8.8% for G. sphacelata). Allozyme studies revealed that genotypes in open-pollinated seeds on 20 G. mucronulata and 20 G. sphacelata plants were surprisingly uniform, best explained by outcrossed matings between close neighbours. We found little between-population variation in any aspect of the mating system for either species. These studies reveal that the preferred mating system of the plant and the pattern of pollinator behaviour interact to determine the mating system in a population, emphasising the need for a multifaceted investigation of mating systems, especially in predicting the fates of populations that have pollination systems altered by disturbance, small size, isolation and introduced species such as the honeybee.

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