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PubMed1984

Effects of volatile and nonvolatile chemical signals on male sex behaviors mediated by the main and accessory olfactory systems.

Estrous hamster vaginal discharge (HVD) contains both volatile and nonvolatile chemical signals which collectively elicit both male attraction to females and male mating behavior. These two aspects of normal sexual behavior are differentially affected by lesions involving afferents of the main and the accessory olfactory systems. The results of lesions that involve the main olfactory system suggest that it provides information primarily concerning those volatile components of HVD that normally signal the presence of a female. Lesions restricted to the accessory olfactory system do not impair a male's interest in or relative preference for HVD but do significantly interfere with subsequent stages of sexual behavior by reducing the amount of mating obtained upon exposure to HVD. Stimulation of the accessory olfactory system by nonvolatile components of HVD has thus been implicated in the production of mating behavior. In these experiments, male hamsters were attracted to female odor and engaged in significant amounts of mating behavior with surrogate females when only the volatile components of HVD were available to them. These behaviors were further enhanced when both volatile and nonvolatile components of HVD were provided. Lesion studies of the afferents involved reinforce the hypothesis that the main olfactory system is preferentially involved with processing those volatile chemical signals in HVD that denote female attractiveness whereas the accessory olfactory system is preferentially involved with processing those chemical signals, both volatile and nonvolatile, that evoke subsequent steps in male sexual behavior.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Opposites attract? Mate choice for parasite evasion and the evolutionary stability of sex.

If sex is naturally selected as a way to combat parasites, then sexual selection for disease resistance might increase the overall strength of selection for outcrossing. In the present study, we compared how two forms of mate choice affect the evolutionary stability of outcrossing in simultaneous hermaphrodites. In the first form, individuals preferred to mate with uninfected individuals (condition-dependent choice). In the second form, individuals preferred to mate with individuals that shared the least number of alleles in common at disease-resistance loci. The comparisons were made using individual-based computer simulations in which we varied parasite virulence, parasite transmission rate, and the rate of deleterious mutation at 500 viability loci. We found that alleles controlling both forms of mate choice spread when rare, but their effects on the evolutionary stability of sex were markedly different. Surprisingly, condition-dependent choice for uninfected mates had little effect on the evolutionary stability of sexual reproduction. In contrast, active choice for mates having different alleles at disease-resistance loci had a pronounced positive effect, especially under low rates of deleterious mutation. Based on these results, we suggest that mate choice that increases the genetic diversity of offspring can spread when rare in a randomly mating population, and, as an indirect consequence, increase the range of conditions under which sexual reproduction is evolutionarily stable.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

A female-specific attractant for the codling moth, Cydia pomonella, from apple fruit volatiles.

Host plant-derived esters were investigated as potential female-specific attractants for the codling moth (CM), Cydia pomonella (L.), a key pest of apples worldwide. The behavioural effects of single and combined volatile compounds and of a natural odour blend were examined using olfactometry and wind-tunnel bioassays. The apple-derived volatile butyl hexanoate attracted mated females while it was behaviourally ineffective for males over a dosage range of more than three orders of magnitude in olfactometer assays. Female CM preferred this kairomone to the headspace volatiles from ripe apples. Both no-choice and choice trials in the wind-tunnel suggested that female moths might be effectively trapped by means of this compound. In contrast, headspace volatiles collected from ripe apple fruits as well as a blend containing the six dominant esters from ripe apples were behaviourally ineffective. A female-specific repellency was found for the component hexyl acetate in the olfactometer, but this ester had no significant effect in the wind-tunnel. Butyl hexanoate with its sex-specific attraction should be further evaluated for monitoring and controlling CM females in orchards.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Intracerebroventricular infusions of morphine, and blockade with naloxone, modify the olfactory preferences for pup odors in lactating rats.

Systemic morphine exposure disrupts both maternal behavior (MB) and postpartum aggression, possibly through alterations of olfactory preferences [29]. In the current studies, adult female rats were timed mated and implanted with a unilateral cannula in the lateral ventricle. On day 5 or 6 of lactation, the females were infused with either morphine (2.0 micrograms) or saline (5 microliters) (Experiment 1); or, they were infused with 2.0 micrograms morphine and saline or morphine plus 0.5 micrograms naloxone (Experiment 2). One hour later, they were exposed to bedding soiled by pups, or to clean bedding. The amount of time spent investigating the two bedding types was compared. Morphine produced an aversion to the odor of pups, relative to the saline condition, wherein the females expressed a preference for the odor of pups. Naloxone reversed the effect of the morphine, restoring the preference for pup odors in the females. Thus, morphine disruption of MB may be due to central action on olfactory sensory mechanisms.

Animals↗

PubMed1999

Cryptic female choice: frogs reduce clutch size when amplexed by undesired males.

In species with internal fertilization, females can 'cryptically' choose (e.g. through sperm selection) which individuals sire their offspring, even when their overt preferences for copulatory partners are overrun by male-male competition and sexual coercion. The experiment presented here reveals that control of paternity after copulation has begun is also possible in species with external fertilization. Females of the hybridogenetic Rana essonae-Rana esculenta (LL-LR) waterfrog complex adjust their clutch size in response to mate type: they release fewer eggs when amplexed by hybrid LR males who--jeopardize successful reproduction--than when amplexed by parental LL males. This reduction in the number of eggs laid can increase a female's residual reproductive value through a second mating in the same breeding season or a larger clutch size in the next year. We argue that cryptic female choice through clutch size adjustment (i) may have evolved more often than previously assumed, and (ii) can arise even where females mate only once during a reproductive period.

Animals↗

PubMed2007

Sexual selection drives speciation in an Amazonian frog.

One proposed mechanism of speciation is divergent sexual selection, whereby divergence in female preferences and male signals results in behavioural isolation. Despite the appeal of this hypothesis, evidence for it remains inconclusive. Here, we present several lines of evidence that sexual selection is driving behavioural isolation and speciation among populations of an Amazonian frog (Physalaemus petersi). First, sexual selection has promoted divergence in male mating calls and female preferences for calls between neighbouring populations, resulting in strong behavioural isolation. Second, phylogenetic analysis indicates that populations have become fixed for alternative call types several times throughout the species' range, and coalescent analysis rejects genetic drift as a cause for this pattern, suggesting that this divergence is due to selection. Finally, gene flow estimated with microsatellite loci is an average of 30 times lower between populations with different call types than between populations separated by a similar geographical distance with the same call type, demonstrating genetic divergence and incipient speciation. Taken together, these data provide strong evidence that sexual selection is driving behavioural isolation and speciation, supporting sexual selection as a cause for speciation in the wild.

Animals↗

PubMed2006

No evidence for UV-based nest-site selection in sticklebacks.

BACKGROUND: Nests are built in various animal taxa including fish. In systems with exclusive male parental care, the choice of a nest site may be an important component of male fitness. The nest site may influence male attractiveness as a mate, and male, embryo, and juvenile survival probabilities. Reproductively active three-spined stickleback males establish and defend a territory in which they build a nest. Territories can differ remarkably in qualities that influence male and female reproductive success like predation risk or abiotic factors such as dissolved oxygen concentration or lighting conditions. The latter may be important because in sticklebacks the extended visual capability into the ultraviolet (UV) wave range plays a role in female mate choice. Males are thus expected to be choosy about the habitat in which they will build their nest. RESULTS: We tested nest-site choice in male three-spined sticklebacks with respect to different UV lighting conditions. Reproductively active males were given the simultaneous choice to build their nest either in an UV-rich (UV+) or an UV-lacking (UV-) environment. Males exhibited no significant nest-site preferences with respect to UV+ or UV-. However, larger males and also heavier ones completed their nests earlier. CONCLUSION: We found that UV radiation as well as differences in luminance had no influence on nest-site choice in three-spined sticklebacks. Males that built in the UV-rich environment were not different in any trait (body traits and UV reflection traits) from males that built in the UV-poor environment. There was a significant effect of standard length and body mass on the time elapsed until nest completion in the UV experiment. The larger and heavier a male, the faster he completed his nest. In the brightness control experiment there was a significant effect only of body mass on the duration of nest completion. Whether nest building preferences with respect to UV lighting conditions are context dependent needs to be tested for instance by nest-site choice experiment under increased predation risk.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1988

Comparative study of VH gene family usage by newborn xid and non-xid mice, newborn NZB and adult NZB mice, and by splenic and peritoneal cavity B cell compartments.

RNA from 170 different Ig-secreting hybridomas was hybridized with VH gene probes 7183, QUPC52, S107, J558, J606, 36-60, V31, X-24 and V-GAM 3.8, with the aim of comparing xid to non-xid mice, neonatal NZB to adult NZB, and the peritoneal cavity with the splenic compartments for VH gene family expression. Our results indicate that (a) defective F1 male xid mice express with high frequency 36-60 and J606 5' proximal VH families, when compared to non-xid F1 females of the same matings. (b) Neonatal NZB mice express 3' proximal 7183 and QUPC52 families with high frequency, when compared to adult mice and to the expected values derived from VH complexity. (c) Natural antibodies against cytoskeleton proteins, DNA, rabbit IgG and 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl did not appear to prefer a particular VH family. The only difference found is related to age; neonatal clones preferentially employ 7183 and QUPC52 while J558 predominates among adult clones. (d) All the 15 antibodies directed against bromelin-treated mouse red blood cells failed to hybridize with any of the nine VH probes employed. These results confirm previous findings indicating the highly homogeneous pattern of these latter antibodies, and suggest that they are encoded by a new VH family (VH11).

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Pre- and post-insemination episodes of sexual selection in the fowl, Gallus g. domesticus.

Although much attention has been recently directed to sexual selection arising after insemination from sexual promiscuity, little is known about the mechanisms determining reproductive success after insemination, and the way these mechanisms interact with each other and with selective mechanisms occurring before insemination: mate choice and mate acquisition. Here, we briefly review the findings of an on-going study investigating the mechanisms generating variation in reproductive success at both a pre- and a post-insemination stage in the domestic fowl. Female preference consistently favours socially dominant males before and after insemination. However, although social status mediates the number of sperm that a male inseminates into a female, dominant males may inseminate sperm of lower fertilising quality than their subordinates. We argue that mitochondrial genes may contribute to determine sperm quality, and speculate that the maternal control of mitochondrial genes may prevent sexual selection from operating on males, thus explaining both the lack of a positive correlation between social dominance and sperm quality and the maintenance of variation in male quality in the fowl.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Divergent sexual selection enhances reproductive isolation in sticklebacks.

Sexual selection may facilitate speciation because it can cause rapid evolutionary diversification of male mating signals and female preferences. Divergence in these traits can then contribute to reproductive isolation. The sensory drive hypothesis predicts that three mechanisms underlie divergence in sexually selected traits: (1) habitat-specific transmission of male signals; (2) adaptation of female perceptual sensitivity to local ecological conditions; and (3) matching of male signals to female perceptual sensitivity. I test these mechanisms in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus spp.) that live in different light environments. Here I show that female perceptual sensitivity to red light varies with the extent of redshift in the light environment, and contributes to divergent preferences. Male nuptial colour varies with environment and is tuned to female perceptual sensitivity. The extent of divergence among populations in both male signal colour and female preference for red is correlated with the extent of reproductive isolation in these recently diverged species. These results demonstrate that divergent sexual selection generated by sensory drive contributes to speciation.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Speciation by reinforcement: a model derived from studies of Drosophila.

Reinforcement is an increase in premating reproductive isolation between taxa resulting from selection against hybrids. We present a model of reinforcement with a novel type of selection on female mating behavior. Previous models of reinforcement have focused on the divergence of female mating preferences between nascent species. We suggest that an increase in the level of female mating discrimination can yield reinforcement without further divergence of either male characters or female preferences. This model indicates that selection on mating discrimination is a viable mechanism for reinforcement and may allow speciation under less stringent conditions than selection on female preference. This model also incorporates empirical results from genetic studies of hybrid fitness determination in Drosophila species. We find that the details of inheritance, which include sex-linked transmission, sex-limited fertility reduction, and X-autosome epistasis, have important effects on the likelihood of reinforcement. In particular, X-autosome epistasis for hybrid fitness determination facilitates reinforcement when hybrid fertility reduction occurs in males, but hinders the process when it occurs in females. HALDANE's rule indicates that hybrid sterility will generally evolve in males prior to females within nascent species. Thus, HALDANE's rule and X-autosome epistasis provide conditions that are surprisingly favorable for reinforcement in Drosophila.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Social interaction with non-averse group-mates modifies a learned food aversion in single- and mixed-species groups of tamarins (Saguinus fuscicollis and S. labiatus).

For social species, being a member of a cohesive group and performing activities as a coordinated unit appear to provide a mechanism for the efficient transmission of information about food. Social learning about food palatability was investigated in two captive primates, Saguinus fuscicollis and S. labiatus, which form stable and cohesive mixed-species groups in the wild. We explored whether an induced food aversion toward a preferred food is modified during and after social interaction with non-averse conspecifics or congeners. Sets of intra- and interspecific pairs were presented with two foods, one of which was considered distasteful by one of the pairs (the other was palatable), and their behavior was compared pre-interaction, during interaction, and post-interaction. For the aversely-conditioned individuals of both species, the change in social context corresponded to a change in their preference for the food that they considered unpalatable, regardless of whether they had interacted with a conspecific or congeneric pair, and the change in food preference was maintained post-interaction. In a control condition, in which averse individuals did not have the opportunity to interact with non-averse animals, S. fuscicollis sampled the preferred food, but not as quickly as when given the opportunity to interact. We conclude that the social learning demonstrated here may allow individual tamarins to track environmental change, such as fruit ripening, more efficiently than asocial learning alone, because social learners can more quickly and safely focus on appropriate behavior by sharing up-to-date foraging information. Furthermore, since the behavior of congeners, as well as conspecifics, acts to influence food choice in a more adaptive direction, social learning about food palatability may be an advantage of mixed-species group formation to tamarins of both species.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2000

Social monogamy in a territorial salamander.

Social monogamy, which does not necessarily imply mating or genetic monogamy, is important in the formation of male-female pair associations. We operationally define social monogamy as occurring when two heterosexual adults, exclusive of kin-directed behaviour, direct significantly less aggression and significantly more submission towards each other, and/or spend significantly more time associating with each other relative to other adult heterosexual conspecifics. Long-term pair associations (i.e. those lasting through a lengthy breeding season) that are characteristic of social monogamy are common in some taxa but are virtually unknown in amphibians. Recent studies, however, have suggested that red-backed salamanders, Plethodon cinereus, have complex (for amphibians) social systems. Our laboratory experiments tested the hypothesis that red-backed salamanders found in pairs in the forest display behaviours consistent with social monogamy. During the summer noncourtship season, newly collected male-females pairs showed no preference to associate with their partners more than with a novel conspecific of the opposite sex. However, during the autumn courtship season, paired males and females significantly directed preferential behaviours towards their partners rather than towards a surrogate or a novel paired salamander. Focal animals showed no significant preferences when presented with their partner and a novel single salamander, but they never directed preferential behaviours towards a novel salamander (whether paired or single) or a surrogate. These results are the first to suggest that a salamander species engages in social monogamy. Furthermore, our results suggest that social monogamy may not inhibit paired males and females from displaying alternative strategies: preferring partners when extrapair associations may be disadvantageous (i.e. the extrapair animal is already paired) but not preferring partners when extrapair associations may be advantageous (i.e. the extrapair animal is single). Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2001

Carotenoid scarcity, synthetic pteridine pigments and the evolution of sexual coloration in guppies (Poecilia reticulata).

Carotenoid-based sexual coloration is the classic example of an honest signal of mate quality. Animals cannot synthesize carotenoid pigments and ultimately depend on dietary sources. Thus, in carotenoid-poor environments, carotenoid coloration may be a direct indicator of foraging ability and an indirect indicator of health and vigour. Carotenoid coloration may also be affected, more directly, by parasites in some species. Carotenoids are not, however, the only conspicuous pigments available to animals. Pteridine pigments, with similar spectral properties, are displayed in the exoskeletons and wings of insects, the irides of birds and the skins of fishes, lizards and amphibians. Unlike carotenoids, pteridines are synthesized de novo by animals. We report that the orange spots that male guppies (Poecilia reticulata) display to females contain red pteridine pigments (drosopterins) in addition to carotenoids. We also examined the relationship between drosopterin production by males and carotenoid availability in the field. The results contrasted sharply with the hypothesis that males use drosopterins to compensate for carotenoid scarcity: males used more, not less, drosopterins in streams with higher carotenoid availability. The positive association between drosopterin use and carotenoid availability could reflect the costs of drosopterin synthesis or it could be a consequence of females preferring a particular pigment ratio or hue. Male guppies appear to use drosopterin pigments in a manner that dilutes, but does not eliminate, the indicator value of carotenoid coloration.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Chromosomal inversions and the reproductive isolation of species.

Recent genetic studies have suggested that many genes contribute to differences between closely related species that prevent gene exchange, particularly hybrid male sterility and female species preferences. We have examined the genetic basis of hybrid sterility and female species preferences in Drosophila pseudoobscura and Drosophila persimilis, two occasionally hybridizing North American species. Contrary to findings in other species groups, very few regions of the genome were associated with these characters, and these regions are associated also with fixed arrangement differences (inversions) between these species. From our results, we propose a preliminary genic model whereby inversions may contribute to the speciation process, thereby explaining the abundance of arrangement differences between closely related species that co-occur geographically. We suggest that inversions create linkage groups that cause sterility to persist between hybridizing taxa. The maintenance of this sterility allows the species to persist in the face of gene flow longer than without such inversions, and natural selection will have a greater opportunity to decrease the frequency of interspecies matings.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Female choice via indicator traits easily evolves in the face of recombination and migration.

Species that exist in heterogeneous environments experience selection for specialization that is opposed by the homogenizing forces of migration and recombination. Migration tends to reduce associations between alleles and habitats, whereas recombination tends to break down associations among loci. The idea that heterogeneity should favor the evolution of isolating mechanisms has motivated evolutionary studies of reduced migration, habitat preference, and assortative mating. However, costly female choice of high-quality males can also evolve in heterogeneous populations and is not hindered by either recombination or migration. When information on male fitness is available through indicator traits, female choice based on these traits increases associations between female choice alleles and locally adapted alleles. Not only does female choice evolve in a heterogeneous environment, it acts to enhance the level of genetic variation and is thus self-reinforcing. The amount of female choice at equilibrium depends on how well mixed the habitats are, how much information on male genotype is available, and how different the habitats are. Female choice reaches the highest levels for intermediate levels of heterogeneity, because at such levels of heterogeneity there is both a high risk and high cost of mismating.

Alleles↗

PubMed2006

Social partner preferences of male and female fighting fish (Betta splendens).

While the social interactions of Betta splendens have been studied in the contexts of dominance hierarchies, mate choice and communication networks, the social partner preferences of Betta have been largely overlooked. In this study, we presented male and female Betta with a single male, a single female, and a group of three females in dichotomous choice tests in order to better understand basic social interactions in this largely nonsocial species. The highly territorial Betta preferred associating with conspecifics in nearly every configuration we tested, with exceptions noted when single females were given the choice between a lone male and an empty chamber, and when males were presented with a single female and an empty chamber. Also, in most tests, the fish chose to spend more time with the larger group of females. The motivation for this preference certainly varied from reproductive to anti-predator. While such behavior might not suggest true shoaling behavior, it does demonstrate a subtle degree of sociality.

Aggression↗

PubMed2005

Trade up polygyny and breeding synchrony in avian populations.

The advent of the molecular techniques used to assign paternity has focused attention on the differences between the social and the genetic mating systems of sexual species. In particular, the interrelations between breeding synchrony-the degree to which the fertility periods of individual females in a population overlap and the degree of extra pair paternity (EPP) in that population, has became a subject of a lively debate. Investigation of the subject can be facilitated by examining the criteria that females use in choosing extra pair partners. These preferences constitute a continuum ranging between two extremes. At one end, there are situations wherein all the females in a population exhibit a preference for males with particular phenotypic markers, and females mated to males lacking such "quality" markers seek extra pair fertilizations from males that do -trade up polygyny. At the other extreme, there are situations wherein females seek to maximize the total number of male partners, rather than secure fertilization by males of particular type -indiscriminate polygyny. Previously, we used game theoretical methods to model the interrelations between breeding synchrony and EPP in the context of indiscriminate polygyny. Here we present an analogous investigation in the context of trade up polygyny. Our results for the two cases, which delimit the range of the possible behavior, are similar. That is, we see that it is the pursuit of extra pair fertilizations opportunities that determines breeding synchrony of populations, rather than the vice versa as has been previously suggested.

Animals↗