Plasticity in female mate choice associated with changing reproductive states

Lynch, Kathleen S.; Rand, A. Stanley; Ryan, Michael J.; Wilczynski, Walter

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2004.05.016

Cited by 123 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…stage (Forsgren, 1997;Gabor and Halliday, 1997;Lynch et al, 2005;Qvarnstrom et al, 2000). For example, a study on plasticity in mating preference in Túngara frog females (Lynch et al, 2005) has shown that the probability of recognizing both a conspecific call (receptivity) and a call less attractive than a conspecific call (permissiveness) changes during the reproductive stages of females, probably because of differences in their hormonal state (Lynch et al, 2006).…”

Section: The Perceived Utility Of Prospective Mates: U = P(a|h)/p(a|hmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, a study on plasticity in mating preference in Túngara frog females (Lynch et al, 2005) has shown that the probability of recognizing both a conspecific call (receptivity) and a call less attractive than a conspecific call (permissiveness) changes during the reproductive stages of females, probably because of differences in their hormonal state (Lynch et al, 2006). Receptivity and permissiveness are higher in the amplexed than in the pre-and post-amplexed stages, but the probability of discriminating between two conspecific calls of different attractiveness does not change.…”

Section: The Perceived Utility Of Prospective Mates: U = P(a|h)/p(a|hmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Computational mate choice: Theory and empirical evidence

Castellano

Cadeddu

Cermelli

2012

Behavioural Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

a b s t r a c tThe present review is based on the thesis that mate choice results from information-processing mechanisms governed by computational rules and that, to understand how females choose their mates, we should identify which are the sources of information and how they are used to make decisions. We describe mate choice as a three-step computational process and for each step we present theories and review empirical evidence. The first step is a perceptual process. It describes the acquisition of evidence, that is, how females use multiple cues and signals to assign an attractiveness value to prospective mates (the preference function hypothesis). The second step is a decisional process. It describes the construction of the decision variable (DV), which integrates evidence (private information by direct assessment), priors (public information), and value (perceived utility) of prospective mates into a quantity that is used by a decision rule (DR) to produce a choice. We make the assumption that females are optimal Bayesian decision makers and we derive a formal model of DV that can explain the effects of preference functions, mate copying, social context, and females' state and condition on the patterns of mate choice. The third step of mating decision is a deliberative process that depends on the DRs. We identify two main categories of DRs (absolute and comparative rules), and review the normative models of mate sampling tactics associated to them. We highlight the limits of the normative approach and present a class of computational models (sequential-sampling models) that are based on the assumption that DVs accumulate noisy evidence over time until a decision threshold is reached. These models force us to rethink the dichotomy between comparative and absolute decision rules, between discrimination and recognition, and even between rational and irrational choice. Since they have a robust biological basis, we think they may represent a useful theoretical tool for behavioural ecologist interested in integrating proximate and ultimate causes of mate choice.

show abstract

Section: The Perceived Utility Of Prospective Mates: U = P(a|h)/p(a|hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Perceived Utility Of Prospective Mates: U = P(a|h)/p(a|hmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational mate choice: Theory and empirical evidence

Castellano

Cadeddu

Cermelli

2012

Behavioural Processes

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, gravid tú ngara frogs (who must lay soon after egg maturation) will accept sperm from lower quality males (but still prefer sperm from high-quality males when offered choice; Lynch et al 2005Lynch et al , 2006. In general, sexual selection favours males who possess adaptation to seek out and find fertile females.…”

Section: The Phenomenon Of Oestrusmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human oestrus

2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For several decades, scholars of human sexuality have almost uniformly assumed that women evolutionarily lost oestrus-a phase of female sexuality occurring near ovulation and distinct from other phases of the ovarian cycle in terms of female sexual motivations and attractivity. In fact, we argue, this long-standing assumption is wrong. We review evidence that women's fertile-phase sexuality differs in a variety of ways from their sexuality during infertile phases of their cycles. In particular, when fertile in their cycles, women are particularly sexually attracted to a variety of features that likely are (or, ancestrally, were) indicators of genetic quality. As women's fertile-phase sexuality shares with other vertebrate females' fertile-phase sexuality a variety of functional and physiological features, we propose that the term oestrus appropriately applies to this phase in women. We discuss the function of women's non-fertile or extended sexuality and, based on empirical findings, suggest ways that fertile-phase sexuality in women has been shaped to partly function in the context of extra-pair mating. Men are particularly attracted to some features of fertile-phase women, but probably based on by-products of physiological changes males have been selected to detect, not because women signal their cycle-based fertility status.

show abstract

“…There is data that females are less selective as virgins than later (e.g., Jennions and Petrie 2000;Lynch et al 2005;Peretti and Carrera 2005), but the interpretation of such evidence is challenging, as alternative explanations such as increased experience of older females or accumulating mating costs need to be excluded. For example, Bateman et al (2001) showed that female crickets, Gryllus bimaculatus, were less discriminating in their first mating than later, but the authors interpreted this in the context of experience: virgin females are also naive and have thus limited information on male size or quality.…”

Section: The Wallflower Effect As a Cause Of Female Adaptationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sexual Selection When Fertilization Is Not Guaranteed

2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Much of the theory of sexual selection assumes that females do not generally experience difficulties getting their eggs fertilized, yet sperm limitation is occasionally documented. How often does male limitation form a selection for female traits that improve their mating rate? The question is difficult to test, because if such traits evolve to be efficient, sperm limitation will no longer appear to be a problem to females. Here, we suggest that changes in choosiness between populations, and in particular between virgin and mated females, offer an efficient way to test this hypothesis. We model the ''wallflower effect,'' that is, changes in female preferences due to time and mortality costs of remaining unmated (for at least some time). We show that these costs cause adaptive reductions of female choice, even if mate encounter rates appear high and females only rarely end their lives unfertilized. We also consider the population consequences of plastic or fixed mate preferences at different mate encounter rates. If mate choice is plastic, we confirm earlier verbal models that virgins should mate relatively indiscriminately, but plastic increase of choosiness in later matings can compensate and intensify sexual selection on the male trait, particularly if there is last male sperm precedence. Plastic populations will cope well with unusual conditions: eagerness of virgins leads to high reproductive output and a relaxation of sexual selection at low population densities. If females lack such plasticity, however, population-wide reproductive output may be severely reduced, whereas sexual selection on male traits remains strong.

show abstract

Plasticity in female mate choice associated with changing reproductive states

Cited by 123 publications

References 42 publications

Computational mate choice: Theory and empirical evidence

Computational mate choice: Theory and empirical evidence

Human oestrus

Sexual Selection When Fertilization Is Not Guaranteed

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About