Offspring sex ratio produced by female guppies in the wild correlates with sexual ornaments of their sons

Sato, Ayumu; Karino, Kenji

doi:10.1007/s10164-010-0243-z

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Therefore, we predicted that females mated with males having large orange spots would produce more sons than daughters. However, contrary to our prediction and the results of previous studies (Karino & Sato ; Sato & Karino , ), we found that the brood sex ratio was negatively related to the paternal orange spot area. Our result indicates that the sons’ orange spot sizes were not related with their mating success.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…The extent of orange spot size in male guppies is inherited from sires to sons (Brooks & Endler ). Therefore, when females mate with males with larger orange spots, they should invest more in sons than they do in daughters, because their sons are expected to attract many females when they are sexually mature (Karino & Sato ; Sato & Karino , ). In contrast, when females mate with males having smaller orange spots, they should invest more in daughters, because they do not generally expect high reproductive success of their sons (Karino & Sato ; Sato & Karino , ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evidence for Strategic Sex Allocation in the Guppy (Poecilia reticulata): Brood Sex Ratio and Size Predict Subsequent Adult Male Mating Success

Sato

Karino

Tregenza³

2017

Ethology

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Sex allocation theory predicts that females should produce more sons when the reproductive success of sons is expected to be high, whereas they should produce more daughters, not daughters when the reproductive success of sons is expected to be low. The guppy (Poecilia reticulata) is a live‐bearing fish, and female guppies are known to produce broods with biased sex ratios. In this study, we examined the relationship between brood sex ratio and reproductive success of sons and daughters, to determine whether female guppies benefit from producing broods with biased sex ratios. We found that sons in male‐biased broods had greater mating success at maturity than sons in female‐biased broods when brood sizes were larger. On the other hand, the reproductive output of daughters was not significantly affected by brood sizes and sex ratios. Our results suggest that female guppies benefit from producing large, male‐biased brood when the reproductive success of sons is expected to be high.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Strategic Sex Allocation in the Guppy (Poecilia reticulata): Brood Sex Ratio and Size Predict Subsequent Adult Male Mating Success

Sato

Karino

Tregenza³

2017

Ethology

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Mating success of male guppy Poecilia reticulata in the wild

Sato

2017

Ichthyol Res

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Facultative adjustment of the offspring sex ratio and male attractiveness: a systematic review and meta-analysis

et al. 2015

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Females can benefit from mate choice for male traits (e.g. sexual ornaments or body condition) that reliably signal the effect that mating will have on mean offspring fitness. These male-derived benefits can be due to material and/or genetic effects. The latter include an increase in the attractiveness, hence likely mating success, of sons. Females can potentially enhance any sex-biased benefits of mating with certain males by adjusting the offspring sex ratio depending on their mate's phenotype. One hypothesis is that females should produce mainly sons when mating with more attractive or higher quality males. Here we perform a meta-analysis of the empirical literature that has accumulated to test this hypothesis. The mean effect size was small (r = 0.064-0.095; i.e. explaining <1% of variation in offspring sex ratios) but statistically significant in the predicted direction. It was, however, not robust to correction for an apparent publication bias towards significantly positive results. We also examined the strength of the relationship using different indices of male attractiveness/quality that have been invoked by researchers (ornaments, behavioural displays, female preference scores, body condition, male age, body size, and whether a male is a within-pair or extra-pair mate). Only ornamentation and body size significantly predicted the proportion of sons produced. We obtained similar results regardless of whether we ran a standard random-effects meta-analysis, or a multi-level, Bayesian model that included a correction for phylogenetic non-independence. A moderate proportion of the variance in effect sizes (51.6-56.2%) was due to variation that was not attributable to sampling error (i.e. sample size). Much of this non-sampling error variance was not attributable to phylogenetic effects or high repeatability of effect sizes among species. It was approximately equally attributable to differences (occurring for unknown reasons) in effect sizes among and within studies (25.3, 22.9% of the total variance). There were no significant effects of year of publication or two aspects of study design (experimental/observational or field/laboratory) on reported effect sizes. We discuss various practical reasons and theoretical arguments as to why small effect sizes should be expected, and why there might be relatively high variation among studies. Currently, there are no species where replicated, experimental studies show that mothers adjust the offspring sex ratio in response to a generally preferred male phenotype. Ultimately, we need more experimental studies that test directly whether females produce more sons when mated to relatively more attractive males, and that provide the requisite evidence that their sons have higher mean fitness than their daughters.

show abstract

Offspring sex ratio produced by female guppies in the wild correlates with sexual ornaments of their sons

Cited by 3 publications

References 55 publications

Evidence for Strategic Sex Allocation in the Guppy (Poecilia reticulata): Brood Sex Ratio and Size Predict Subsequent Adult Male Mating Success

Evidence for Strategic Sex Allocation in the Guppy (Poecilia reticulata): Brood Sex Ratio and Size Predict Subsequent Adult Male Mating Success

Mating success of male guppy Poecilia reticulata in the wild

Facultative adjustment of the offspring sex ratio and male attractiveness: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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