Describing mate preference functions and other function‐valued traits

Kilmer, Joseph T.; Fowler‐Finn, Kasey D.; Gray, David A.; Höbel, Gerlinde; Rebar, Darren; Reichert, Michael S.; Rodrı́guez, Rafael L.

doi:10.1111/jeb.13122

Cited by 54 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 97 publications

(189 reference statements)

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“…We visually inspected our preference functions to determine GAMM smoothing parameters as described in Kilmer et al. (). The first GAMM contained a single smoother and thus fit a single function representing the response of females to male signals (PC1) across all parental effects treatments; the second contained separate smoothers for each treatment and thus fit a function to each treatment.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the Follows stage, the LMM/GLMM indicated differences in function slope among treatments, so we ran two GAMMs with nonparametric smooths for this courtship stage to assess function shape. We visually inspected our preference functions to determine GAMM smoothing parameters as described in Kilmer et al (2017). The first GAMM contained a single smoother and thus fit a single function representing the response of females to male signals (PC1) across all parental effects treatments; the second contained separate smoothers for each treatment and thus fit a function to each treatment.…”

Section: Shape Using Gammsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Predator‐induced maternal and paternal effects independently alter sexual selection

Lehto

Tinghitella

2020

Evolution

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Parental experience alters survival‐related phenotypes of offspring in both adaptive and nonadaptive ways, yielding rapid inter‐ and transgenerational fitness effects. Yet, fitness comprises survival and reproduction, and parental effects on mating decisions could alter the strength and direction of sexual selection, affecting long‐term evolutionary trajectories. We used a full factorial design in which threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) mothers, fathers, both, or neither were exposed to a model predator at developmentally appropriate times to test for predator‐induced maternal, paternal, and joint parental effects on daughters’ mating behavior. We tested the responsiveness, preferences, and mate choices of adult daughters in no‐choice trials with wild‐caught males who had varied sexual signals. Maternal and paternal predator exposure independently yielded daughters who preferred males who were intermediate in conspicuousness (with duller nuptial coloration and who courted less vigorously), relaxing the typical preference for the most conspicuous males. The combined effects of maternal and paternal predator exposure were not cumulative; when both parents were predator exposed, single‐parent effects on mate preferences were reversed. Thus, we cannot assume that maternal and paternal effects additively combine to produce “parental” effects. Further, joint parental predator exposure yielded daughters who were three times less likely to mate at all. Stress‐induced intergenerational parental effects on reproductive decisions such as those observed here may potentiate rapid transgenerational responses to novel and changing mating environments.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Shape Using Gammsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predator‐induced maternal and paternal effects independently alter sexual selection

Lehto

Tinghitella

2020

Evolution

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“…With each fish having been used in four replicate trials of their specific choice task, we used their shell choices to build preference functions using the program PFunc (v1.0.1; [16]).…”

Section: Preference Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…the preferences that individuals show for different phenotypic traits of potential mates [e.g [18][19][20]. At their core, preference functions are curves (splines) that are fit to data indicating which values of a trait are more or less attractive to an observer [16]. In PFunc, these curves are fit using generalised additive models.…”

Section: Preference Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…If the tested attribute is unrelated to the decision to occupy the shell, then preference functions are expected to be flat and undirected, indicating no strong preference for a particular attribute. However, the functions could be curved, indicating preferences for specific attributes, and these may be categorised according to whether the functions are closed or open-ended [16]. Here, shell preferences should be for structural attributes that best 'fit' the phenotype of the chooser.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Structural manipulations of a shelter resource reveal underlying preference functions in a shell-dwelling cichlid fish

Bose

Windorfer

Ronco

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Many animals can modify the environments in which they live, thereby changing the selection pressures they experience. A common example of such niche-construction is the use, creation, or modification of environmental resources for use as nests or shelters. Because these resources often have correlated structural elements, it can be difficult to disentangle the relative contribution of these elements to resource choice, and the preference functions underlying niche-construction behaviour remain hidden. Here, we present an experimental paradigm that uses 3D-scanning, -modelling, and -printing to create replicas of structures that differ with respect to key structural attributes. We show that a niche-constructing, shelldwelling cichlid fish, Neolamprologus multifasciatus, has strong open-ended preference functions for exaggerated shell replicas. Fish preferred shells that were fully intact and either enlarged, lengthened, or had widened apertures. Shell intactness was the most important structural attribute, followed by shell length, then aperture width. We disentangle the relative roles of different shell attributes, which are tightly correlated in the wild, but nevertheless differentially influence shelter choice and therefore niche construction in this species. We highlight the broad utility of our approach when compared to more traditional methods (e.g. two-choice tasks) for studying animal decision-making in a range of contexts.

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Female mate choice of male signals is unlikely to promote ecological adaptation inEnchenopatreehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

Fowler‐Finn

Kilmer

Cruz

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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A key question in speciation research is how ecological and sexual divergence arise and interact. We tested the hypothesis that mate choice causes local adaptation and ecological divergence using the rationale that the performance~signal trait relationship should parallel the attractiveness~signal trait relationship. We used female fecundity as a measure of ecological performance. We used a species in the Enchenopa binotata treehopper complex, wherein speciation involves adaptation to novel environments and divergence in sexual communication. We used a full‐sibling, split‐family rearing design to estimate genetic correlations (r G) between fecundity and signal traits, and compared those relationships against population‐level mate preferences for the signal traits. Animal model estimates for r G between female fecundity and male signal traits overlapped zero—rejecting the hypothesis—but could reflect sample size limitations. The magnitude of r G correlated with the strength of the mate preferences for the corresponding signal traits, especially for signal frequency, which has the strongest mate preference and the most divergence in the complex. However, signal frequencies favored by the population‐level mate preference are not associated with high fecundity. Therefore, mate preferences do not appear to have been selected to favor high‐performance genotypes. Our findings suggest that ecological and sexual divergence may arise separately, but reinforce each other, during speciation.

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Describing mate preference functions and other function‐valued traits

Cited by 54 publications

References 97 publications

Predator‐induced maternal and paternal effects independently alter sexual selection

Predator‐induced maternal and paternal effects independently alter sexual selection

Structural manipulations of a shelter resource reveal underlying preference functions in a shell-dwelling cichlid fish

Female mate choice of male signals is unlikely to promote ecological adaptation inEnchenopatreehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

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