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Results for “Sexual selection”

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PubMed2003

Nonlinear and correlational sexual selection on 'honest' female ornamentation.

Female ornamentation has long been overlooked because of the greater prevalence of elaborate displays in males. However, the circumstances under which females would benefit from honestly signalling their quality are limited. Females are not expected to invest in ornamentation unless the fitness benefits of the ornament exceed those derived from investing the resources directly into offspring. It has been proposed that when females gain direct benefits from mating, females may instead be selected for ornamentation that deceives males about their reproductive state. In the empidid dance flies, males frequently provide nuptial gifts and it is usually only the female that is ornamented. Female traits in empidids, such as abdominal sacs and enlarged pinnate leg scales, have been proposed to 'deceive' males into matings by disguising egg maturity. We quantified sexual selection in the dance fly Rhamphomyia tarsata and found escalating, quadratic selection on pinnate scales and that pinnate scales honestly reflect female fecundity. Mated females had a larger total number and more mature eggs than unmated females, highlighting a potential benefit rather than a cost of male mate choice. We also show correlational selection on female pinnate scales and fecundity. Correlational selection, equivalent investment patterns or increased nutrition from nuptial gifts may all maintain honesty in female ornamentation.

Animal Communication↗

PubMed2006

Serological markers of selected sexually and blood transmitted infections in pregnant women and in newborns of HIV-positive mothers in the Slovak Republic.

Aim of the study was to investigate serological markers of selected sexually and blood transmitted infections (HBV, HCV, CMV, and Treponema pallidum) in the group of pregnant women and in newborns of HIV-positive mothers in Slovakia. IgG antibodies to CMV were found in 78 of 97 women, from them in 6 of 7 HIV-positive and in 72 of 90 HIV-negative persons. Occurrence of HbsAg and HCV was significantly higher in the group of HIV-positive women (1/7 and 2/7) comparing to the HIV-negative one (4/90 and 0/92, respectively). Antibodies to T. pallidum were found only in one HIV-negative woman from 92 women tested. Five of seven children born to HIV-1 infected mothers were found HIV-1 negative, two children are still under control. Four of 7 newborns were found anti-CMV IgG positive. Although one woman, IDU, was confirmed HbsAg and anti-HCV positive, vertical transmission of HBV and HCV to her newborn was not observed by molecular-biological methods. Similarly, HCV antibodies were found in one more women and neither in her child HCV infection was confirmed. In no one of mother - child pair's antibodies to T. pallidum were observed. Due to these findings strong attention should be paid to health education and prophylaxis of mother to child HIV and other STIs transmission in Slovakia.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗

PubMed2005

Mortality costs of sexual selection and parental care in natural populations of birds.

Is the cost of reproduction different between males and females? On the one hand, males typically compete intensely for mates, thus sexual selection theory predicts higher cost of reproduction for males in species with intense male-male competition. On the other hand, care provisioning such as incubating the eggs and raising young may also be costly, thus parental care theory predicts higher mortality for the care-giving sex, which is often the female. We tested both hypotheses of reproductive costs using phylogenetic comparative analyses of sex-specific adult mortality rates of 194 bird species across 41 families. First, we show that evolutionary increases in male-male competition were associated with male-biased mortalities. This relationship is consistent between two measures of mating competition: social mating system and testis size. Second, as predicted by the parental cost hypothesis, females have significantly higher adult mortalities (mean +/- SE, 0.364 +/- 0.01) than males (0.328 +/- 0.01). However, the mortality cost of parental care was only detectable in males, when the influence of mating competition was statistically controlled. Taken together, our results challenge the traditional explanation of female-biased avian mortalities, because evolutionary changes in female care were unrelated to changes in mortality bias. The interspecific variation in avian mortality bias, as we show here, is driven by males, specifically via the costs of both mating competition and parental care. We also discuss alternative hypotheses for why most birds exhibit female-biased mortalities, whereas in mammals male-biased mortalities predominate.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Density-dependent sexual selection in external fertilizers: variances in male and female fertilization success along the continuum from sperm limitation to sexual conflict in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus franciscanus.

Sperm competition and female choice are fundamentally driven by gender differences in investment per offspring and are often manifested as differences in variance in reproductive success: males compete and have high variance; most females are mated and have low variance. In marine organisms that broadcast spawn, however, females may encounter either sperm limitation or sperm competition. I measured the fertilization success of male and female Strongylocentrotus franciscanus over a range of population densities using microsatellite markers. Female fertilization success first increased and then decreased with mate density, limited at low density by sperm limitation and at high density by polyspermy. Mate density affected variance in fertilization success in both males and females. In males, the variance in fertilization success increased with mate density. In females, the pattern was more complex. The variance in female success increased similarly to males with increased mate density but then decreased to low levels at intermediate densities, where almost all eggs were fertilized. As density increased further, the female variances again increased as polyspermy lowered average fertilization success. Male and female variances differed only at intermediate densities. At low densities, both sexes may be under selection to increase fertilization success; at intermediate densities, males may compete; and at high densities, both sexes may be under selection to increase success by increasing (males) or decreasing (females) likelihood of fertilization during sexual conflict. Only within a narrow range of densities do patterns of sexual selection mirror those typically noted in internally fertilizing taxa.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Size dependent sexual selection in Drosophila ananassae.

Mate choice based on body size is widespread and can have numerous consequences. We present data, which show the effect of male and female body size on sexual selection in Drosophila ananassae. The relationships between wing size, locomotor activity, mating latency, courtship pattern, fertility and mating success were studied. Mating latency was negatively correlated with wing length and with locomotor activity, while wing length and locomotor activity was positively correlated in males as well as in females. In female- and male-choice, we found that mate choice influenced size-assortative mating by: (1) large and small males preferring to mate with large females, (2) large males successfully competing for large females, leaving small males to mate with small females. Males increased their reproductive success by mating with large and more fecund females. In addition, in pairs of long/short winged flies, long winged flies courted and mated more successfully than short winged flies and they also have longer duration of copulation and more progeny than short winged flies. We found sterile mating in pairs of small winged males and females.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Speciation in birds: genes, geography, and sexual selection.

Molecular studies of speciation in birds over the last three decades have been dominated by a focus on the geography, ecology, and timing of speciation, a tradition traceable to Mayr's Systematics and the Origin of Species. However, in the recent years, interest in the behavioral and molecular mechanisms of speciation in birds has increased, building in part on the older traditions and observations from domesticated species. The result is that many of the same mechanisms proffered for model lineages such as Drosophila--mechanisms such as genetic incompatibilities, reinforcement, and sexual selection--are now being seriously entertained for birds, albeit with much lower resolution. The recent completion of a draft sequence of the chicken genome, and an abundance of single-nucleotide polymorphisms on the autosomes and sex chromosomes, will dramatically accelerate research on the molecular mechanisms of avian speciation over the next few years. The challenge for ornithologists is now to inform well studied examples of speciation in nature with increased molecular resolution-to clone speciation genes if they exist--and thereby evaluate the relative roles of extrinsic, intrinsic, deterministic, and stochastic causes for avian diversification.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Female reciprocal calling in the Iberian midwife toad (Alytes cisternasii) varies with male call rate and dominant frequency: implications for sexual selection.

Male midwife toads (Alytes cisternasii) responded differently depending on the call frequency and call rate of other males. I tested female Iberian midwife toads with the same set of stimuli used earlier with males. Females responded faster to high call rates, and female vocal activity was greater in response to low-frequency male calls. Thus, in both sexes, the vocal response differs in the same direction according to signal frequency variation, but the magnitude of the response is greater in males than in females. In the light of these results, I discuss the implications for sexual selection of this reciprocal calling.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Frequency-dependent sexual selection in a natural population of oak leaf-roller moth (Tortrix viridana L.)].

A mating system on the esterase locus Est-4 was studied in a natural population of oak leaf-roller moth Tortrix viridana L. Frequency-dependent sexual selection was revealed, which manifested itself in a "rare-type advantage". On the basis of obtained data, a new hypothesis for explanation of the "rare-type advantage" phenomenon is proposed. The hypothesis proceeds from the genetically determined choice of sexual partner, depending on the degree of phenotypic likeness.

Alleles↗

PubMed2004

Extra-pair paternity does not result in differential sexual selection in the mutually ornamented black swan (Cygnus atratus).

We studied patterns of parentage in 85 broods (332 cygnets) of black swans during three breeding seasons, using a set of eight polymorphic microsatellite markers. We detected both intraspecific brood parasitism (IBP; < 5% of cygnets per year) and extra-pair paternity (EPP). In these years, 10-17% (mean = 15.1%) of cygnets resulted from EPP, and 27-40% (mean 37.6%) of broods contained at least one extra-pair cygnet. Compared with levels of EPP in closely related species with similar life histories, these values are unexpectedly high. EPP in black swans appears unrelated to ecological factors (breeding density and synchrony) or genetic factors (genetic similarity between pair members or genetic quality of the offspring). We found no evidence that a mutual sexual feather ornament known to play a role in social mate choice in black swans (curled wing feathers) is involved in extra-pair mate choice. EPP does not lead to greater variance in reproductive success in males, relative to females in this species. We therefore suggest that EPP does not result in differential sexual selection on males and females, explaining why they are ornamented to the same degree.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2003

Paternity success and the direction of sexual selection in a field population of a semelparous marsupial, Antechinus agilis.

Antechinus agilis is a small sexually size dimorphic marsupial with a brief annual mating period of 2-3 weeks. All males die after this period, and females give birth to up to 10 young. Mating is thought to be promiscuous, however, there is no field data to confirm this. Using microsatellites, we investigated paternity patterns over two seasons in a wild population. Male weight was significantly positively related to the number of females fertilized and with the number of offspring sired, in both years. Furthermore, selection gradients indicated selection for larger males. Both results suggest that size dimorphism in A. agilis can be explained by sexual selection for larger males. The proportion of offspring sired within litters, did not relate to male size. Therefore, larger males are more successful through higher mating access, not through their sperm outcompeting that of smaller males. As expected from their known ranging behaviour, the number of offspring within litters left unassigned to a father did not depend on the grid location of the mother. Female size did not differ between successful reproducing and unsuccessful females. However, females that weaned offspring had larger heads than females that did not wean offspring. Males did not 'prefer' mating with larger females, nor did assortative mating occur. From our results, the mating system of A. agilis is clearly promiscuous. Selection for larger males occurred in both years, even though in one year the operational sex ratio was highly female biased, suggesting that the potential reproductive rate is a better predictor of the direction of sexual selection in A. agilis.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

A trade-off between reproduction and a condition-dependent sexually selected ornament in the house sparrow Passer domesticus.

Reproductive effort was manipulated in a free-living population of house sparrows (Passer domesticus) to investigate the trade-off between reproductive investment and the expression of a condition-dependent sexually selected ornament. Phenotypic plasticity in the expression of this trait was related to the experimentally manipulated size of the brood reared by a male. Males that invested more in current reproduction subsequently became more attractive to females in this population as they showed a preference for males with smaller badges. This supports the argument that direct benefits are a primary focus for mate choice by females. Trade-offs between reproductive effort and the expression of sexual ornaments are a potentially important source of phenotypic variation in both sexual ornaments and life-history traits.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

"Allohormones": a class of bioactive substances favoured by sexual selection.

During close bodily contact, many species transfer substances that influence the behaviour or physiology of conspecifics. Such transfer is especially common during courtship and copulation. When this is the case the involved bioactive substances are favoured by sexual selection because their effects include increased egg production, inhibited remating, and changed sperm transport or storage in the partner. The direct mode of action of these substances is fundamentally different from that of pheromones and nuptial gifts. Therefore, the term allohormone is introduced here. An allohormone is defined as a substance that is transferred from one individual to another free-living member of the same species and that induces a direct behavioural or physiological response, bypassing external sensory organs. Although we emphasise the importance of allohormones in reproductive processes, allohormones may also have important functions outside of copulation.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Species richness in agamid lizards: chance, body size, sexual selection or ecology?

Why does species richness vary so greatly across lineages? Traditionally, variation in species richness has been attributed to deterministic processes, although it is equally plausible that it may result from purely stochastic processes. We show that, based on the best available phylogenetic hypothesis, the pattern of cladogenesis among agamid lizards is not consistent with a random model, with some lineages having more species, and others fewer species, than expected by chance. We then use phylogenetic comparative methods to test six types of deterministic explanation for variation in species richness: body size, life history, sexual selection, ecological generalism, range size and latitude. Of eight variables we tested, only sexual size dimorphism and sexual dichromatism predicted species richness. Increases in species richness are associated with increases in sexual dichromatism but reductions in sexual size dimorphism. Consistent with recent comparative studies, we find no evidence that species richness is associated with small body size or high fecundity. Equally, we find no evidence that species richness covaries with ecological generalism, latitude or range size.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

PubMed2001

Both morphological and molecular characters support speciation of South American siskins by sexual selection.

South American siskin radiation was studied by both mitochondrial cytochrome b (mt cyt b) DNA sequencing and homologous phenotypic characters; the latter were coded separately according to sex. Mixed phenetic and molecular (total evidence) dendrograms were constructed and the corresponding analyses suggest that speciation started in the South American siskin group with a north to south separation (Carduelis notata/C. barbata) along the Andean spine. A second split may have taken place around the Peruvian Andean mountains, corresponding to the present distribution pattern of C. olivacea. The most recent speciation events seem to have occurred in three sister species pairs: (i) C. xanthogastra/C. atrata, (ii) C. magellanica/C. yarrellii, (iii) C. cucullata/C. crassirostris. Accumulation of consistent characters in both morphological and molecular data at the basal nodes of the dendrograms indicate that speciation events occurred within a short period of time. Our data also suggest that speciation probably occurred by sexual selection through female mating choice in this radiation. Additionally, studies of variable amino acid residues in the mt cyt b molecule show that the three variable amino acids found are placed in the mitochondrial transmembrane region, which is also part of the hypervariable region in mammals. Each of the three amino acid changes occur in each of the three postulated evolutionary groups.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1998

Sex-related genes, directional sexual selection, and speciation.

Reproductive isolation and speciation can result from the establishment of either premating or postmating barriers that restrict gene flow between populations. Recent studies of speciation have been dominated by a molecular approach to dissect the genetic basis of hybrid male sterility, a specific form of postmating reproductive isolation. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the evolution of genes involved in premating isolation and genes generally involved in other sex-related functions (e.g., mating behavior, fertilization, spermatogenesis, sex determination). We have assembled DNA sequences from 51 nuclear genes and classified them based on their functional characteristics. The proportion of nonsynonymous to synonymous nucleotide substitutions were compared between Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila simulans, and Drosophila pseudoobscura, as well as between Caenorhabditis elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae. We found a high ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous substitutions for sex-related genes (i.e., genes involved in mating behavior, fertilization, spermatogenesis, or sex determination). The results suggest that directional sexual selection has shaped the evolution of sex-related genes and that these changes have more likely occurred during the early stages of speciation. It is possible that directional selection becomes relaxed after reproductive isolation has been completed between more distantly related species (e.g., D. melanogaster and D. pseudoobscura). However, a saturation in the number of nucleotide substitutions since the time of species separation may mask any sign of directional selection between more distantly related species.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Evidence for sexual selection on structural plumage coloration in female eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis).

Although the function of ornamental traits in males has been the focus of intensive research for decades, expression of such traits in females has received much less study. Eastern bluebirds (Sialia sialis) display structurally based ultraviolet/blue and melanin-based chestnut plumage, and in males this plumage coloration is related to both reproductive success and competitive ability. Compared to males, female bluebirds show a subdued expression of blue and chestnut ornamental coloration, and we used a combination of an aviary nutritional-stress experiment and four years of field data to test the hypothesis that coloration functions as a signal of female quality. First, we tested the effect of food intake on expression of structural and melanin coloration in female eastern bluebirds to determine whether structural or melanin coloration are condition-dependent traits. Females that were given ad libitum access to food displayed more ornamented structural coloration than females on a food-restricted diet, but there was no effect of the experiment on melanin ornamentation. Second, we used field data to assess whether female ornamentation correlated with measures of mate quality and parental effort. The structural coloration of females predicted first egg date, maternal provisioning rates, and measures of reproductive success. These data indicate that structural coloration is dependent on nutritional condition and suggest that sexual selection is acting on structurally based plumage coloration in female eastern bluebirds.

Age Factors↗

PubMed1999

The Y chromosome as a battle ground for sexual selection.

The Y chromosome was once thought to be devoid of genetic information. However, recent work shows that it contains numerous genes related to sperm production and dimorphic traits (such as body size and tooth development). Among mammals, these traits influence a male's competitive ability in male-male contests and in sperm competition. Therefore, sexual selection could have favoured genes on the Y chromosome that enhance male fertilization success because they spread unaltered through the male line. In contrast, female heterogamety among birds makes it possible for genes that benefit females to spread through the female line, a mechanism that could explain the prevalence of female choice.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2005

Sexual selection and mating advantages in the giant sperm species, Drosophila bifurca.

Mate choice may be exercised by either sex; however, females are generally choosier than males because they invest more in their gametes. Female choice is often based on direct benefits, such as better reproductive output, whereas male choice appears to be based on differences in female fecundity. However, when gamete production is limited, sexual selection theories predict that mate choice will be decisive for reproductive success in both sexes. Here, we investigate how mating advantage is achieved in Drosophila bifurca, a giant sperm species in which both sexes produce only a few gametes. Our initial expectations were as follows: (1) females would discriminate against sperm-depleted males to avoid fertility cost; and (2) males would discriminate against inseminated females to reduce sperm competition and increase the assurance of paternity of individual gametes. Differences in courtship behaviors were analyzed with regard to the sexual maturity, which is reached after 22 days in males at 21 degrees C, and the reproductive history of both sexes (inseminated versus virgin for females, and sperm-depleted versus sperm-loaded for males). Our results show that: (1) sexual immaturity precludes mating in both sexes; (2) virgin females do not discriminate between sperm-loaded and sperm-depleted males, and (3) males mate preferentially with virgin females, because inseminated females fend off the male, which tended to bring male courtship to an end. Female remating was limited, but increased significantly when the first male was sperm-depleted. Contrary to our initial expectations, these findings suggest that male sperm depletion does not affect female mating preference, whereas the success of male courtship is driven by female behavior. The possibility that female remating was only promoted in response to low sperm transfer is discussed in relation to the gametic system of this species.

Animals↗