Sexual imprinting on a novel trait in the dimorphic zebra finch: sexes differ

Witte, Klaudia; Sawka, Nadia

doi:10.1006/anbe.2002.2009

Cited by 61 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…For example, the mating preferences of zebra finches can be influenced by early life visual experiences, i.e. they exhibit sexual imprinting (ten Cate & Vos 1999;Witte & Sawka 2003), and imprinted preferences are known to change in adulthood through social processes (Oetting & Bischof 1996). Perhaps the effect of the adult social environment on mate preferences is a by-product of sexual-imprinting mechanisms.…”

Section: Results (A) Experiments 1: Copying Of Preferences For Individmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socially transmitted mate preferences in a monogamous bird: a non-genetic mechanism of sexual selection

et al. 2005

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There is increasing evidence that animals can acquire mate preferences through the use of public information, notably by observing (and copying) the mate preferences of others in the population. If females acquire preferences through social mechanisms, sexual selection could act very rapidly to spread the preference and drive elaboration of the preferred trait(s). Although there are reports of 'mate-choice copying' in polygynous species, there is no clear evidence for this process in monogamous species. Here, we investigated whether adult female zebra finches Taeniopygia guttata can socially acquire sexual preferences for individual males and, in a separate study, for a generalized trait (coloured leg bands) of males. In both studies, test females observed males in two simultaneous conditions: a ('chosen') mixed-sex situation in which a male was paired with a (model) female, and a ('unchosen') same-sex situation in which a male was paired with another male. In the first experiment, after two weeks of females observing males, test females significantly preferred individual males who had been paired with another female (i.e. chosen males). In the second experiment, test females significantly preferred novel males that were wearing the same leg band colour as the apparently chosen males. Our findings are consistent with the conclusion that female zebra finches' mate preferences are altered by public information. Our study implies that mate preferences can spread rapidly through populations by social mechanisms, affecting the strength of sexual selection in a monogamous species.

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Section: Results (A) Experiments 1: Copying Of Preferences For Individmentioning

confidence: 99%

Socially transmitted mate preferences in a monogamous bird: a non-genetic mechanism of sexual selection

et al. 2005

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“…Thus, there is no evidence for sexual imprinting in males in these two species. Both studies together show that there is a sex difference in the potential of sexual imprinting in these cichlid species as has been shown in bird species (Witte & Sawka 2003;Witte & Caspers 2006).…”

Section: Does Sexual Imprinting Promote Sympatric Speciation In Fishes?mentioning

confidence: 87%

Learning and Mate Choice

Witte

Nöbel

2011

Fish Cognition and Behavior

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“…This implies either a genetic association between the body size in parents and preference for the same size in mates or, as seems more likely from the mating patterns of hybrids (Grant & Grant 1997b), a behavioural influence of parental morphology on the choice of mates in agreement with sexual imprinting theory ( Immelmann 1975;Grant & Grant 1997a;Irwin & Price 1999;ten Cate & Vos 1999). In zebra finches, there is evidence for a parental influence of the opposite sex on mate choice based on plumage colour (Witte & Sawka 2003;ten Cate et al 2006). Our results with Darwin's finches are mainly consistent with this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pedigrees, assortative mating and speciation in Darwin's finches

Grant

2008

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Pedigree analysis is a useful tool in the study of speciation. It can reveal trans-generational influences on the choice of mates. We examined mating patterns in a population of Darwin's medium ground finches (Geospiza fortis) on Daphne Major Island to improve our understanding of how a barrier to the exchange of genes between populations arises in evolution. Body sizes of mates were weakly correlated. In one year, the smallest females were paired non-randomly with the males of similar size, and in another year the largest males were paired with the largest females. An influence of parental morphology on the choice of mates, as expected from sexual imprinting theory, was found; the body size of mates was predicted by the body sizes of both parents, and especially strongly by the father's. These associations imply that the seeds of reproductive isolation between species are present within a single variable population. The implication was subject to a natural test: two exceptionally large birds of the study species, apparently immigrants, bred with each other, as did their offspring, and not with the members of the resident population. The intense inbreeding represents incipient speciation. It parallels a similar phenomenon when another species, the large ground finch, immigrated to Daphne and established a new population without interbreeding with the resident medium ground finches.

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Sexual imprinting on a novel trait in the dimorphic zebra finch: sexes differ

Cited by 61 publications

References 45 publications

Socially transmitted mate preferences in a monogamous bird: a non-genetic mechanism of sexual selection

Socially transmitted mate preferences in a monogamous bird: a non-genetic mechanism of sexual selection

Learning and Mate Choice

Pedigrees, assortative mating and speciation in Darwin's finches

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