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Calabrese GM, Pfennig KS. Females alter their mate preferences depending on hybridization risk. Biol Lett 2022; 18:20220310. [PMID: 36382373 PMCID: PMC9667136 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2022.0310] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Mating with another species is often maladaptive because it generally results in no or low-fitness offspring. When hybridization is sufficiently costly, individuals should avoid mating with heterospecifics even if it reduces their ability to mate with high-quality conspecifics that resemble heterospecifics. Here, we used spadefoot toads, Spea multiplicata, to evaluate whether females alter their preferences for conspecific male sexual signals (call rate) depending on heterospecific presence. When presented with conspecific signals against a background including both conspecific and heterospecific signals, females preferred male traits that were most dissimilar to heterospecifics-even though these signals are potentially associated with lower-quality mates. However, when these same females were presented with a background that included only conspecific signals, some females switched their preferences, choosing conspecific signals that were exaggerated and indicative of high-quality conspecific mates. Because only some females switched their preferences between these two chorus treatments, there was no population-level preference for exaggerated conspecific male signals in the absence of heterospecifics. These results show that hybridization risk can alter patterns of mate choice and, consequently, sexual selection on male signals. Moreover, they emphasize that the strength and expression of reproductive barriers between species (such as mate choice) can be context-dependent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gina M. Calabrese
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, CB# 3280, Coker Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280, USA
| | - Karin S. Pfennig
- Department of Biology, University of North Carolina, CB# 3280, Coker Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3280, USA
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Santacà M, Devigili A, Gasparini C. Timing matters: female receptivity and mate choice in the zebrafish (Danio rerio). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-022-03255-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Female choice has been documented in many animal taxa, and how we test it has been refined through years of studies on the topic. However, when designing mate choice experiments some variables, surprisingly, often remain overlooked, including receptivity and reproductive stage. Here, we aimed to assess whether the female reproductive stage influences strength and direction of mate choice in the zebrafish, Danio rerio. Females were offered a choice between two males differing in body size. We found that female choice in our experimental setup was significantly repeatable and that females preferred larger males. Nonetheless, the level of choosiness of females was affected by the time since the last spawning. Females spent more time choosing when tested 7 and 10 days after spawning rather than 4 days, indicating a higher receptivity to males from one week after the last spawning. Moreover, females preferred larger males only when tested 7 and 10 days after spawning. Our results suggest that female mate choice should take female receptivity into account, by standardizing time since the last spawning across females. More broadly, this suggests that 7–10 days since the previous spawning is the ideal time interval for zebrafish female receptivity to peak, with implications for facilities and researchers to increase egg production in natural spawning events and manual egg collection.
Significance statement
The role of pre-copulatory female mate preference has long been recognized in sexual selection. Nonetheless, female receptivity often remains overlooked in mate choice experiments especially in external fertilizing species. In the present study, we investigated if the female reproductive stage affects the strength and direction of female mate choice in an external fertilizing fish, the zebrafish, Danio rerio. We found that, when tested 7 and 10 days after spawning rather than 4 days, females spent more time choosing, demonstrating an increased receptivity to males from 1 week following the last spawning. Furthermore, only at 7 and 10 days after spawning females exibith a clear preference for the bigger males. Our study highlights the importance of considering the female receptivity in future studies assessing mate choices in this and other externally fertilizing species, and also for zebrafish facilities to increase egg production in natural spawning events and manual egg collection.
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Male Sexual Preference for Female Swimming Activity in the Guppy ( Poecilia reticulata). BIOLOGY 2021; 10:biology10020147. [PMID: 33673367 PMCID: PMC7918064 DOI: 10.3390/biology10020147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/15/2021] [Revised: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 02/09/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Mate choice that is based on behavioural traits is a common feature in the animal kingdom. Using the Trinidadian guppy, a species with mutual mate choice, we investigated whether males use female swimming activity-a behavioural trait known to differ consistently among individuals in many species-as a trait relevant for their mate choice. In the first experiment, we assessed male and female activity in an open field test alone (two repeated measures) and afterwards in heterosexual pairs (two repeated measures). In these pairs, we simultaneously assessed males' mating efforts by counting the number of sexual behaviours (courtship displays and copulations). Male and female guppies showed consistent individual differences in their swimming activity when tested both alone and in a pair, and these differences were maintained across both test situations. When controlling for male swimming behaviour and both male and female body size, males performed more courtship displays towards females with higher swimming activity. In a second experiment, we tested for a directional male preference for swimming activity by presenting males video animations of low- and high-active females in a dichotomous choice test. In congruence with experiment 1, we found males to spend significantly more time in association with the high-active female stimulus. Both experiments thus point towards a directional male preference for higher activity levels in females. We discuss the adaptive significance of this preference as activity patterns might indicate individual female quality, health or reproductive state while, mechanistically, females that are more active might be more detectable to males as well.
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Size Selective Harvesting Does Not Result in Reproductive Isolation among Experimental Lines of Zebrafish, Danio rerio: Implications for Managing Harvest-Induced Evolution. BIOLOGY 2021; 10:biology10020113. [PMID: 33557025 PMCID: PMC7913724 DOI: 10.3390/biology10020113] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2021] [Revised: 01/28/2021] [Accepted: 01/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Simple Summary Mortality in fish populations is commonly size-selective. In fisheries, larger fish are preferentially caught while natural predators preferentially consume smaller fish. Removal of certain sized fish from populations and elevated fishing mortality constitute a selection pressure which may change life-history, behaviour and reduce adult body-size. Because behaviour and body-size are related and influence mating preferences and reproductive output, size-selective mortality may favour subpopulations that less readily mate with each other. Our aim is to test this possibility using three experimental lines of zebrafish (Danio rerio) generated in laboratory by removing large-sized, small-sized and random-sized fish for five generations. We tested mating preferences among males and females and tested if they spawned together. We found males and females of all subpopulations to reproduce among themselves. Females generally preferred large-sized males. Females of all lines spawned with males, and males of all lines fertilised eggs of females independent of the subpopulation origin. Our study shows that size-selective mortality typical of fisheries or in populations facing heavy predation does not result in evolution of reproductive barriers. Thus, when populations adapted to fishing pressure come in contact with populations unexposed to such pressures, interbreeding may happen thereby helping exploited populations recover from harvest-induced evolution. Abstract Size-selective mortality is common in fish stocks. Positive size-selection happens in fisheries where larger size classes are preferentially targeted while gape-limited natural predation may cause negative size-selection for smaller size classes. As body size and correlated behavioural traits are sexually selected, harvest-induced trait changes may promote prezygotic reproductive barriers among selection lines experiencing differential size-selective mortality. To investigate this, we used three experimental lines of zebrafish (Danio rerio) exposed to positive (large-harvested), negative (small-harvested) and random (control line) size-selective mortality for five generations. We tested prezygotic preferences through choice tests and spawning trials. In the preference tests without controlling for body size, we found that females of all lines preferred males of the generally larger small-harvested line. When the body size of stimulus fish was statistically controlled, this preference disappeared and a weak evidence of line-assortative preference emerged, but only among large-harvested line fish. In subsequent spawning trials, we did not find evidence for line-assortative reproductive allocation in any of the lines. Our study suggests that size-selection due to fisheries or natural predation does not result in reproductive isolation. Gene flow between wild-populations and populations adapted to size-selected mortality may happen during secondary contact which can speed up trait recovery.
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Aich U, Bonnet T, Fox RJ, Jennions MD. An experimental test to separate the effects of male age and mating history on female mate choice. Behav Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Should females prefer older males as mates? Male survival to old age might indicate the presence of fitness-enhancing genes that increase offspring fitness. However, many correlational studies show that mating with older males can lower female fecundity and even reduce offspring fitness due to epigenetic or germline mutation effects. One problem in quantifying female choice based on male age is that age is usually confounded with mating history. This begs a question: Do females choose males based on their age or their mating history? The answer requires an experimental approach, but few such studies exist. Here, we test if experimentally induced variation in the mating history of old and young males (12-week difference in postmaturity age) affects female choice in the eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). To vary mating history, adult males were either allowed to freely mate with females for 3 weeks or they only had visual contact with females. Immediately thereafter, we ran four-choice mating trials, using association time, to test the effects of male age and mating history (2 × 2 design) on male attractiveness. Females did not show a clear preference for males based on either characteristic. This was not due to a lack of female choice: females spent significantly more time with larger males. In addition, female choice was significantly repeatable across four trials: twice as a virgin and twice as a nonvirgin. Finally, female mating status (virgin or nonvirgin) did not affect her choice of mate, although virgin females spent significantly more time associating with test males.
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Affiliation(s)
- Upama Aich
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Timothee Bonnet
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Rebecca J Fox
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Michael D Jennions
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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Bierbach D, Mönck HJ, Lukas J, Habedank M, Romanczuk P, Landgraf T, Krause J. Guppies Prefer to Follow Large (Robot) Leaders Irrespective of Own Size. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2020; 8:441. [PMID: 32500065 PMCID: PMC7243707 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2020] [Accepted: 04/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Body size is often assumed to determine how successfully an individual can lead others with larger individuals being better leaders than smaller ones. But even if larger individuals are more readily followed, body size often correlates with specific behavioral patterns and it is thus unclear whether larger individuals are more often followed than smaller ones because of their size or because they behave in a certain way. To control for behavioral differences among differentially-sized leaders, we used biomimetic robotic fish (Robofish) of different sizes. Live guppies (Poecilia reticulata) are known to interact with Robofish in a similar way as with live conspecifics. Consequently, Robofish may serve as a conspecific-like leader that provides standardized behaviors irrespective of its size. We asked whether larger Robofish leaders are preferentially followed and whether the preferences of followers depend on own body size or risk-taking behavior ("boldness"). We found that live female guppies followed larger Robofish leaders in closer proximity than smaller ones and this pattern was independent of the followers' own body size as well as risk-taking behavior. Our study shows a "bigger is better" pattern in leadership that is independent of behavioral differences among differentially-sized leaders, followers' own size and risk-taking behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Bierbach
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Thaer Institute, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Excellence Cluster ‘Science of Intelligence’, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hauke J. Mönck
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute for Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Juliane Lukas
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Thaer Institute, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Marie Habedank
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Thaer Institute, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
| | - Pawel Romanczuk
- Excellence Cluster ‘Science of Intelligence’, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biology, Institute for Theoretical Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tim Landgraf
- Excellence Cluster ‘Science of Intelligence’, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Institute for Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jens Krause
- Faculty of Life Sciences, Thaer Institute, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Excellence Cluster ‘Science of Intelligence’, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany
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Iglesias‐Carrasco M, Fox RJ, Vega‐Trejo R, Jennions MD, Head ML. An experimental test for body size‐dependent effects of male harassment and an elevated copulation rate on female lifetime fecundity and offspring performance. J Evol Biol 2019; 32:1262-1273. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13526] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2019] [Revised: 08/13/2019] [Accepted: 08/19/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Maider Iglesias‐Carrasco
- Division of Ecology and Evolution Research School of Biology Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia
| | - Rebecca J. Fox
- Division of Ecology and Evolution Research School of Biology Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia
| | - Regina Vega‐Trejo
- Division of Ecology and Evolution Research School of Biology Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia
- Department of Zoology/Ethology Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden
| | - Michael D. Jennions
- Division of Ecology and Evolution Research School of Biology Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia
| | - Megan L. Head
- Division of Ecology and Evolution Research School of Biology Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia
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Fox RJ, Head ML, Jennions MD. Disentangling the costs of male harassment and the benefits of polyandry for females. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca J Fox
- School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Megan L Head
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Michael D Jennions
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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