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PubMed1998

Sexual selection, receiver biases, and the evolution of sex differences.

REVIEW Recent approaches to analyzing the evolution of female mating preferences emphasize how historical influences on female receiver systems can bias the evolution of male traits that females find attractive. These studies combine animal behavior, sensory biology, phylogenetics, and artificial neural network models. They attempt to understand why specific phenotypes involved in sexual selection have evolved, rather than merely determining whether such traits and preferences are adaptive. It is now clear that traits and preferences often do not coevolve via genetic correlations, that female mating preferences for a given male trait are influenced by adaptations and constraints outside of the context of female responses to that particular trait, and that receiver biases can explain much of the diversity in male signaling phenotypes. It also appears that an understanding of historical effects will prove valuable in investigating why neural and cognitive systems respond to sensory stimuli as they do.

Animal Communication↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Olfactory cues associated with the major histocompatibility complex.

Besides its immunological function of self/non-self discrimination the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) has been recognized as a possible source of individual specific body odors. Dating back to speculations on the role of the extraordinary polymorphism of the MHC as background of an individual chemosensory identity and to early observations of MHC-dependent mate choice in inbred strains of mice, systematic experimental studies revealed a first evidence for H-2 related body odors in this species. Meanwhile a large number of animal studies with rodents and a series of field studies and experiments with humans have extended our knowledge of MHC-related odor signals and substantiated the hypothesis of immunogenetic associated odor types. These results suggest that the most prominent feature of the MHC, its extraordinary genetic diversity, seems in part to be selectively maintained by behavioral mechanisms which operate in contemporary natural populations. The high degree of heterozygosity found in natural populations of most species seems to be promoted by non-disease-based selection such as mating preferences and selective block of pregnancy.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Female preference for fly song: playback experiments confirm the targets of sexual selection.

The courtship song of Drosophila is thought to be involved in sexual selection and species recognition. Because of the mating system of flies, however, directly demonstrating that song influences female preference is difficult. The majority of previous studies have used an experimental design that potentially confounds male and female reactions to song. In D. montana, correlational evidence has suggested that males that produce short sound pulses consisting of a high number of sound cycles (i.e. a high carrier frequency) have a higher mating success than other males. In this study, we played synthetic song that varied in pulse length and carrier frequency to individual females in the laboratory, both alone and in the presence of mute males. We scored female preference via an acceptance posture, 'wing spreading', which the females of this species usually display prior to mounting by a male. Females responded to synthetic song in the absence of males. The presence of mute males significantly increased their overall responsiveness, but the relative effectiveness of the songs did not change, eliminating male reaction to song as a possible confounding factor in the results. The interaction between pulse length and carrier frequency determined the discrimination between song types, with females responding most readily to song consisting of short pulses with a high carrier frequency. Thus, direct examination of female preferences supports the previous studies of male mating success, and confirms female song preference as a likely determinant of male mating success. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Free female mate choice in house mice affects reproductive success and offspring viability and performance.

We tested a critical assumption of sexual dialectics theory (Gowaty 1997, Feminism and Evolutionary Biology, Chapman & Hall) using house mice, Mus musculus. We asked if female house mice accrue viability benefits for their offspring when they mate with males they prefer versus with males they do not prefer. Our experiment was designed to eliminate or control other mechanisms of reproductive competition besides female mate choice. After allowing females to discriminate behaviourally between two males, which were at random with respect to phenotypic variation discriminating females were paired with preferred (P) or nonpreferred (NP) males. We then tested whether females mating with males they preferred had offspring of higher viability than females mating with nonpreferred males. In pairwise comparisons, we tested for differences in offspring performance in dominance contests and in nest-building skill. At weaning, we exposed half of the pups to cold stress. We tested progeny performance and viability in the laboratory or in outdoor field enclosures. In comparison to P females, NP females produced significantly fewer litters. Sons from P matings were socially dominant to sons from NP matings. Adult offspring from P matings built better nests than those from NP matings. In field enclosures significantly fewer NP than P offspring survived to 60 days after introduction. Male and female progeny from P matings established larger home ranges and constructed better nests than progeny from NP matings. This is the first demonstration of progeny viability differences for females allowed to express mate preferences between males presented to them at random. Copyright 2000 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2006

Testing genetic models of mate choice evolution in the wild.

Understanding the mechanisms driving the evolution of mate choice, particularly the importance of indirect genetic benefits, remains a challenge, especially in wild populations. Three recent studies have attempted to quantify the importance of indirect benefits in wild bird populations using approaches derived from quantitative genetic models of mate choice. In all three cases, no support was found for a role of indirect benefits in the evolution of mate choice. These studies suggest that a quantitative genetic approach can illuminate this long-standing problem and that alternative models for the evolution of mate preferences should be tested in wild populations.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Evolution of disassortative and assortative mating preferences based on imprinting.

A two-locus haploid model of sexual selection is investigated to explore evolution of disassortative and assortative mating preferences based on imprinting. In this model, individuals imprint on a genetically transmitted trait during early ontogeny and choosy females later use those parental images as a criterion of mate choice. It is assumed that the presence or absence of the female preference is determined by a genetic locus. In order to incorporate such mechanisms as inbreeding depression and heterozygous advantage into our haploid framework, we assume that same-type matings are less fertile than different-type mating. The model suggests that: if all the females have a disassortative mating preference a viability-reducing trait may be maintained even without the fertility cost of same-type matings; a disassortative mating preference can be established even if it is initially rare, when there is a fertility cost of same-type matings. Further, an assortative mating preference is less likely to evolve than a disassortative mating preference. The model may be applicable to the evolution of MHC-disassortative mating preferences documented in house mice and humans.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Ultraviolet plumage colors predict mate preferences in starlings.

Avian plumage has long been used to test theories of sexual selection, with humans assessing the colors. However, many birds see in the ultraviolet (<400 nm), to which humans are blind. Consequently, it is important to know whether natural variation in UV reflectance from plumage functions in sexual signaling. We show that female starlings rank males differently when UV wavelengths are present or absent. Principal component analysis of approximately 1300 reflectance spectra (300-700 nm) taken from sexually dimorphic plumage regions of males predicted preference under the UV+ treatment. Under UV- conditions, females ranked males in a different and nonrandom order, but plumage reflectance in the human visible spectrum did not predict choice. Natural variation in UV reflectance is thus important in avian mate assessment, and the prevailing light environment can have profound effects on observed mating preferences.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Sensory exploitation as an evolutionary origin to nuptial food gifts in insects.

Nuptial food gifts given by males to females at mating are widespread in insects, but their evolutionary origin remains obscure. Such gifts may arise as a form of sensory trap that exploits the normal gustatory responses of females, favouring the selective retention of sperm of gift-giving males. I tested this hypothesis by offering foreign food gifts, synthesized by males of one cricket species, to females of three non-gift-giving species. Females provisioned with novel food gifts were 'fooled' into accepting more sperm than they otherwise would in the absence of a gift. These results support the hypothesis that nuptial food gifts and post-copulatory female mating preferences coevolve through a unique form of sensory exploitation.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Assortative fertilization and selection at larval stage in the mussels Mytilus edulis and M. galloprovincialis.

Assortative mating (prezygotic isolation) and reduced hybrid fitness (postzygotic isolation) are typically invoked to explain the stability of hybrid zones. In the tension zone model, these factors work in opposition to migration, which promotes genetic homogeneity. Many marine animals migrate over long distances through a planktonic larval stage. Therefore, strong reproductive isolation is needed to maintain stable marine hybrid zones. However, surprisingly little is known about mating preferences and hybrid fitness in marine organisms. Smooth-shelled mussels (Mytilus spp.) form a well-known species complex, with hybridization over extensive areas such as the contact zone of M. edulis and M. galloprovincialis around European Atlantic coasts. This paper reports direct experimental evidence of assortative fertilization, hybrid larval inviability, and early heterosis for growth rate in M. edulis and M. galloprovincialis. Four crosses between pure M. edulis and M. galloprovincialis were analyzed with a new polymerase-chain-reaction-based diagnostic marker. Gamete competition between taxa was allowed in two out of the four crosses. Genotype frequencies observed at an early stage (36 h after fertilization) unambiguously revealed assortative fertilization when gamete competition was allowed. A significant reduction in hybrid viability was subsequently observed during the larval stage. At the same stage an antagonistic effect, heterosis, was observed on growth rate. However, even if heterosis is observed in the F1, it is expected to vanish in subsequent hybrid generations. Although specialization for different habitats and asynchronous spawning have been mentioned as factors contributing to the maintenance of the blue mussel hybrid zone in Europe, we argue that assortative fertilization and reduced hybrid fitness are important factors that also contribute to the stabilization of this zone. These results emphasize that multiple factors may act concomitantly in a barrier to gene flow, especially in complex life cycles. Furthermore, they show that assortative mating through gamete preference, as already demonstrated for sea urchins, may play a role in speciation processes taking place in the sea.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Female voles discriminate males' over-marks and prefer top-scent males

Scent over-marking is a common form of competitive advertisement among many species of mammals. Recent observations in golden hamsters, Mesocricetus auratushave suggested that individuals have specialized mechanisms for interpretation of and response to such over-marks. In this study, we examined whether meadow voles, Microtus pennsylvanicushave similar abilities. Female voles were first exposed to anogenital scent marks of two males and were then tested in a Y-maze for their preferences for whole-body odours of these two males. Experiments were run using a variety of configurations of scent marks during the exposure phase, but all experiments yielded consistent results. If the scent marks of the two males overlapped, females later preferred the whole-body odours of the male whose scent was on top; if the two scent marks did not overlap, females showed no preference. Females also preferred odours of familiar males over novel males, and preferred both top-scent and bottom-scent males over novel males. The results suggest that female voles can tell which individual's scent is on top in an over-mark and that they prefer this top-scent male, even though they know that both males' scents were present during the exposure phase. We suggest that these odour preferences reflect mate preferences and discuss possible reasons why females might prefer top-scent males.1997The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Darwinian aesthetics: sexual selection and the biology of beauty.

Current theoretical and empirical findings suggest that mate preferences are mainly cued on visual, vocal and chemical cues that reveal health including developmental health. Beautiful and irresistible features have evolved numerous times in plants and animals due to sexual selection, and such preferences and beauty standards provide evidence for the claim that human beauty and obsession with bodily beauty are mirrored in analogous traits and tendencies throughout the plant and animal kingdoms. Human beauty standards reflect our evolutionary distant and recent past and emphasize the role of health assessment in mate choice as reflected by analyses of the attractiveness of visual characters of the face and the body, but also of vocal and olfactory signals. Although beauty standards may vary between cultures and between times, we show in this review that the underlying selection pressures, which shaped the standards, are the same. Moreover we show that it is not the content of the standards that show evidence of convergence--it is the rules or how we construct beauty ideals that have universalities across cultures. These findings have implications for medical, social and biological sciences.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Nonrandom mating in the two-spot ladybird (Adalia bipunctata): the influence of weight on mating success.

In some populations of the two-spot ladybird, Adalia bipunctata, there is evidence that melanics of both sexes have a general mating advantage over the typical morph. There is also evidence that some female ladybirds possess a simple mating preference for melanic males. We have determined the influence of body weight on mating success in the two-spot ladybird and assessed whether weight differences might influence the mating success of the melanic morph. We found that the "formal mating tests" used in previous studies of the two-spot ladybird did not detect any influence of weight on mating success. Using more sensitive "singleton" tests, however, a significant mating advantage to heavier males was detected, irrespective of morph. There was also evidence in favor of a similar advantage to heavy females, but this was not present in all ladybird groups that were tested. Heavy individuals neither produced more eggs in matings nor showed higher activity rates. We suggest that some form of mate competition favors large individuals: for example, the larger an individual, the greater is the chance of an encounter with a potential mate. There is no evidence in this study that either sex chooses heavier mates. Effects of weight might contribute to the general melanic mating advantage found in some populations but cannot account for all the data in favor of a female mating preference for melanic males.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Runaway ornament diversity caused by Fisherian sexual selection.

Fisher's runaway process of sexual selection is potentially an important force generating character divergence between closely related populations. We investigated the evolution of multiple female preferences by Fisher's runaway process. There are two outcomes of runaway. The first is the evolution of mate preference to a stable equilibrium. This evolution occurs if the benefits of mate choice are sufficiently large relative to the cost of choice. Alternatively, mate preferences evolve cyclically. The rate and pattern of cyclic evolution depends primarily on the individual cost of choice and epistasis in the joint cost of choice. If there are small differences in natural selection (e.g., predation risk) between populations, cyclic evolution quickly leads to divergence in mate preferences and sexual ornaments and so to sexual isolation.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Multilocus analyses of admixture and introgression among hybridizing Heliconius butterflies.

Introgressive hybridization is an important evolutionary process and new analytical methods provide substantial power to detect and quantify it. In this study we use variation in the frequency of 657 AFLP fragments and DNA sequence variation from 15 genes to measure the extent of admixture and the direction of interspecific gene flow among three Heliconius butterfly species that diverged recently as a result of natural selection for Miillerian mimicry, and which continue to hybridize. Bayesian clustering based on AFLP genotypes correctly delineated the three species and identified four H. cydno, three H. pachinus, and three H. melpomene individuals that were of mixed ancestry. Gene genealogies revealed substantial shared DNA sequence variation among all three species and coalescent simulations based on the Isolation with Migration (IM) model pointed to interspecific gene flow as its cause. The IM simulations further indicated that interspecific gene flow was significantly asymmetrical, with greater gene flow from H. pachinus into H. cydno (2Nm = 4.326) than the reverse (2Nm = 0.502), and unidirectional gene flow from H. cydno and H. pachinus into H. melpomene (2Nm = 0.294 and 0.252, respectively). These asymmetries are in the directions expected based on the genetics of wing patterning and the probability that hybrids of various phenotypes will survive and reproduce in different mimetic environments. This empirical demonstration of extensive interspecific gene flow is in contrast to a previous study which found little evidence of gene flow between another pair of hybridizing Heliconius species, H. himera and H. erato, and it highlights the critical role of natural selection in maintaining species diversity. Furthermore, these results lend support to the hypotheses that phenotypic diversification in the genus Heliconius has been fueled by introgressive hybridization and that reinforcement has driven the evolution of assortative mate preferences.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

The neurosteroids, progesterone and 3alpha,5alpha-THP, enhance sexual motivation, receptivity, and proceptivity in female rats.

The effects of progesterone (P) and the neurosteroid and P metabolite, 3alpha-hydroxy-5alpha-pregnan-20-one (3alpha,5alpha-THP) on ovariectomized (ovx), estradiol-3-benzoate (EB)-primed rats on sexual motivation, receptivity, and proceptivity were examined. Changes in central P and 3alpha,5alpha-THP were measured following administration of EB, EB+P, EB+3alpha,5alpha-THP, or EB+inhibitor of 5alpha-reductase or P metabolism (epostane and finasteride)+P (Expt. 1). Partner preference was measured as the duration of time females in these different hormonal treatments spent in proximity to a male vs. female conspecific (Expt. 2). Receptivity (lordosis quotients and ratings) and proceptivity (darting, hopping, ear wiggling, and pacing), for different hormone treatments were assessed (Expt. 3 and Expt. 4, respectively). Conditioned place preference following hormone treatments and paced mating enabled assessment of sexual motivation (Expt. 5). Central P and 3alpha,5alpha-THP were measured in various combinations of hormone/mating conditions (Expt. 6). Studies revealed that 3alpha,5alpha-THP has a significant role in these reproductive measures. Brain concentrations of 3alpha, 5alpha-THP were significantly higher in animals receiving EB+P or EB+3alpha,5alpha-THP compared to animals receiving EB alone, or EB+P in conjunction with an inhibitor of P metabolism. EB+P and EB+3alpha, 5alpha-THP significantly increased time spent in proximity to the male, receptivity and proceptivity. When administered to ovx, EB-primed rats, the progestin metabolite, 3alpha,5alpha-THP, had effects on these behaviors similar to P. Epostane, an inhibitor of P and 3alpha,5alpha-THP biosynthesis, and finasteride, an inhibitor of P metabolism to 3alpha,5alpha-THP, administered to EB+P animals reduced male partner preference, proceptive, and receptive behaviors to levels seen in EB+vehicle animals. Notably, whole brain 3alpha, 5alpha-THP levels were significantly increased and whole brain P levels were significantly reduced in paced mated rats compared to standard mated, and receptive non-mated animals. These studies suggest that P and 3alpha,5alpha-THP may have some common effects on reproductive behavior, e.g., sexual motivation, receptivity, and proceptivity.

Androstenols↗
PubMed2000

Carotenoid limitation and mate preference evolution: a test of the indicator hypothesis in guppies (Poecilia reticulata).

Under the indicator models of mate choice, female preferences evolve to exploit the condition-dependence or "indicator value" of male traits, which in turn may cause these traits to evolve to elaborate extremes. If the indicator value of a male trait changes, the payoff function of the female preference for that trait should change and the preference should evolve to a new optimum. I tested this prediction in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata, a species in which the indicator value of a sexually selected male trait, carotenoid coloration, varies geographically. Carotenoid coloration is thought to be an indicator of foraging ability and health because animals must obtain carotenoid pigments from their diet. The primary dietary source of carotenoids for guppies is unicellular algae, the abundance of which varies among natural streams because of variation in forest canopy cover. Carotenoid availability limits male coloration to a greater extent in streams with greater forest canopy cover. Thus, the indicator value of male coloration covaries positively with canopy cover. To test the indicator model prediction, I measured genetic divergence in the strength of female preferences for carotenoid coloration between high- and low-carotenoid availability streams in each of three river drainages. Second-generation laboratory-born females were given a choice between full-sib males raised on three different dietary levels of carotenoids. For all six populations, male attractiveness (as determined from the responses of females to male courtship displays) increased with dietary carotenoid levels. However, the strength of female preferences differed between populations in the predicted direction in only one of three river drainages. These results fail to support a crucial prediction of the indicator model. More studies taking an interpopulation approach to studying mate preference evolution are needed before the explanatory value of the indicator models can be rigorously assessed.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1988

Interlitter variability in fetal body weight in mouse offspring from continuous, overnight, and short-period matings.

When female mice of the Jcl:ICR strain were mated with a male either (1) continuously throughout the day or (2) overnight or (3) during 2 hours in the morning at light period, the interlitter variability of fetal body weight on the 18th day of gestation was smallest in the group with short-period mating. Thus, in the embryonic stage-specific teratological experiments, this mating schedule is advised. Even for routine reproductive toxicity testing protocols, the short-period mating may be preferable for the purpose of increasing test sensitivity.

Animals↗