Low-quality females prefer low-quality males when choosing a mate

Abstract

Mate choice studies routinely assume female preferences for indicators of high quality in males but rarely consider developmental causes of within-population variation in mating preferences. By contrast, recent mate choice models assume that costs and benefits of searching or competing for high-quality males depend on females' phenotypic quality. A prediction following from these models is that manipulation of female quality should alter her choosiness or even the direction of her mating preferences. We here provide (to our knowledge) the first example where an experimental manipulation of female quality induced a mating preference for low-quality males. Zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) reared in small or large experimental broods became high-or low-quality adults, respectively. Only high-quality females preferred high-quality males' mate-advertising songs, while all low-quality females preferred low-quality males' song. Subsequent breeding trials confirmed this pattern: latency until egg laying was shortest in quality-matched pairs, indicating that quality-matched birds were accepted faster as partners. Females produced larger eggs when mated with high-quality males, regardless of their own quality, indicating consensus regarding male quality despite the expression of different choices. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering the development of mating preferences to understand their within-population variation and environmentally induced change.

Food availability affects adult survival trajectories depending on early developmental conditions

“…just before fledging, growing up in a large brood resulted in 1.4 g (12%) lower mass without altering the variance (s.d. : 1.4 in both groups; n ¼ 478; electronic supplementary material, figure S1) in agreement with earlier reports [31,44]. Selective disappearance of low-quality individuals, reducing heterogeneity, can bias estimates of the long-term rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org Proc.…”

Differential allocation in relation to mate song quality in the Bengalese finch

“…In accordance with predictions of the differential allocation hypothesis (Sheldon, 2000), many previous studies in birds have reported that females paired with attractive or preferred males increased their reproductive investment by laying larger clutches or heavier eggs (e.g., peahen, Pavo cristatus: Petrie & Williams, 1993; Chinese quail, Coturnix chinensis: Uller et al, 2005; mallard, Anas platyrhynchos: Cunningham & Russell, 2000; zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata: Balzer & Williams, 1998;Gilbert et al, 2006;Holveck & Riebel, 2010; canary, Serinus canaria: Leitner et al, 2006). In addition, it has been revealed that the attractiveness of mates affects the concentration of egg yolk components thought to contribute to the early physical development of offspring, such as testosterone (Gil et al, 1999;Gil et al, 2004; but see Mazuc et al, 2003;Michl et al, 2005) and immune factors (Saino et al, 2002b).…”

Effects of social conditions during early development on stress response and personality traits in great tits (Parus major)

“…It is also possible that initial effects of brood size on personality related traits such as stress responses were leveled out by the standardized hand-rearing procedure from day 10 onwards. Indeed, most studies on long-term effects of early developmental stress manipulated conditions throughout the whole period of nutritional dependence (Brinkhof, Heeb, Kölliker, & Richner, 1999;Buchanan, Leitner, Spencer, Goldsmith, & Catchpole, 2004;Holveck & Riebel, 2010;Naguib, Riebel, Marzal, & Gil, 2004) so that comparatively little is known about long-term effects of only the early nestling period Honarmand et al, 2010;Krause et al, 2009).…”