scholarly journals Developmental effects of visual environment on species-assortative mating preferences in Lake Victoria cichlid fish

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 289-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. S. Wright ◽  
N. Demandt ◽  
J. T. Alkema ◽  
O. Seehausen ◽  
T. G. G. Groothuis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Developmental Effects

scholarly journals Early learning influences species assortative mating preferences in Lake Victoria cichlid fish

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Machteld N Verzijden ◽  
Carel ten Cate
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Isolation ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Species Flock ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Sexual Imprinting ◽  
Cichlid Species ◽  
Young Females ◽  
Genetic Mechanisms

The Lake Victoria ‘species flock’ of cichlids is puzzling because reproductive isolation often occurs in the absence of substantial ecological differences among species. Theory predicts that this cannot evolve with most genetic mechanisms for mate choice. We provide the first evidence that learning, in the form of sexual imprinting, helps maintain reproductive isolation among closely related cichlid species. Using a cross-fostering experiment, we show that young females develop a sexual preference for males of their foster mothers' species, even reversing species assortative mating preferences. We suggest that learning creates favourable conditions for reproductive isolation to evolve.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of species divergence through visual adaptation and sexual selection: Perspectives from a cichlid model system

2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martine E. Maan ◽  
Ole Seehausen
Keyword(s):  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Indirect Effects ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Sensory Adaptation ◽  
Ecological Traits ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Intermediate Phenotypes ◽  
Complex Song ◽  
Depth Gradients

Abstract The theory of ecological speciation suggests that assortative mating evolves most easily when mating preferences are directly linked to ecological traits that are subject to divergent selection. Sensory adaptation can play a major role in this process, because selective mating is often mediated by sexual signals: bright colours, complex song, pheromone blends and so on. When divergent sensory adaptation affects the perception of such signals, mating patterns may change as an immediate consequence. Alternatively, mating preferences can diverge as a result of indirect effects: assortative mating may be promoted by selection against intermediate phenotypes that are maladapted to their (sensory) environment. For Lake Victoria cichlids, the visual environment constitutes an important selective force that is heterogeneous across geographical and water depth gradients. We investigate the direct and indirect effects of this heterogeneity on the evolution of female preferences for alternative male nuptial colours (red and blue) in the genus Pundamilia. Here, we review the current evidence for divergent sensory drive in this system, extract general principles, and discuss future perspectives.

scholarly journals Differences in male coloration are predicted by divergent sexual selection between populations of a cichlid fish

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1830) ◽  
pp. 20160172 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. M. Selz ◽  
R. Thommen ◽  
M. E. R. Pierotti ◽  
J. M. Anaya-Rojas ◽  
O. Seehausen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Female Mating ◽  
Female Mating Preferences ◽  
Male Coloration

Female mating preferences can influence both intraspecific sexual selection and interspecific reproductive isolation, and have therefore been proposed to play a central role in speciation. Here, we investigate experimentally in the African cichlid fish Pundamilia nyererei if differences in male coloration between three para-allopatric populations (i.e. island populations with gene flow) of P. nyererei are predicted by differences in sexual selection by female mate choice between populations . Second, we investigate if female mating preferences are based on the same components of male coloration and go in the same direction when females choose among males of their own population, their own and other conspecific populations and a closely related para-allopatric sister-species, P. igneopinnis . Mate-choice experiments revealed that females of the three populations mated species-assortatively, that populations varied in their extent of population-assortative mating and that females chose among males of their own population based on different male colours. Females of different populations exerted directional intrapopulation sexual selection on different male colours, and these differences corresponded in two of the populations to the observed differences in male coloration between the populations. Our results suggest that differences in male coloration between populations of P. nyererei can be explained by divergent sexual selection and that population-assortative mating may directly result from intrapopulation sexual selection.

Assortative mating preferences between colour morphs of the endemic Lake Tanganyika cichlid genus Tropheus

Hydrobiologia ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 615 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernd Egger ◽  
Beate Obermüller ◽  
Eva Eigner ◽  
Christian Sturmbauer ◽  
Kristina M. Sefc
Keyword(s):  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Lake Tanganyika ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Colour Morphs

scholarly journals Colour-assortative mating among populations of Tropheus moorii , a cichlid fish from Lake Tanganyika, East Africa

2005 ◽  
Vol 273 (1584) ◽  
pp. 257-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Salzburger ◽  
Harald Niederstätter ◽  
Anita Brandstätter ◽  
Burkhard Berger ◽  
Walther Parson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Lake Tanganyika ◽  
Cichlid Fish

scholarly journals Visual adaptation and microhabitat choice in Lake Victoria cichlid fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 181876
Author(s):  
Daniel Mameri ◽  
Corina van Kammen ◽  
Ton G. G. Groothuis ◽  
Ole Seehausen ◽  
Martine E. Maan
Keyword(s):  
Broad Spectrum ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Natural Habitat ◽  
Habitat Preferences ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Visual Sensitivity ◽  
Visual Adaptation ◽  
Repeated Testing ◽  
Cichlid Species ◽  
Habitat Matching

When different genotypes choose different habitats to better match their phenotypes, genetic differentiation within a population may be promoted. Mating within those habitats may subsequently contribute to reproductive isolation. In cichlid fish, visual adaptation to alternative visual environments is hypothesized to contribute to speciation. Here, we investigated whether variation in visual sensitivity causes different visual habitat preferences, using two closely related cichlid species that occur at different but overlapping water depths in Lake Victoria and that differ in visual perception ( Pundamilia spp.). In addition to species differences, we explored potential effects of visual plasticity, by rearing fish in two different light conditions: broad-spectrum (mimicking shallow water) and red-shifted (mimicking deeper waters). Contrary to expectations, fish did not prefer the light environment that mimicked their typical natural habitat. Instead, we found an overall preference for the broad-spectrum environment. We also found a transient influence of the rearing condition, indicating that the assessment of microhabitat preference requires repeated testing to control for familiarity effects. Together, our results show that cichlid fish exert visual habitat preference but do not support straightforward visual habitat matching.

scholarly journals Persistence of neutral polymorphisms in Lake Victoria cichlid fish

1998 ◽  
Vol 95 (24) ◽  
pp. 14238-14243 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Nagl ◽  
H. Tichy ◽  
W. E. Mayer ◽  
N. Takahata ◽  
J. Klein
Keyword(s):  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Cichlid Fish
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