A Test of the Critical Assumption of the Sensory Bias Model for the Evolution of Female Mating Preference Using Neural Networks

Abstract

The sensory bias model for the evolution of mating preferences states that mating preferences evolve as correlated responses to selection on nonmating behaviors sharing a common sensory system. The critical assumption is that pleiotropy creates genetic correlations that affect the response to selection. I simulated selection on populations of neural networks to test this. First, Iselected for various combinations of foraging and mating preferences. Sensory bias predicts that populations with preferences for like-colored objects (red food and red mates) should evolve more readily than preferences for differently colored objects (red food and blue mates). Here, I found no evidence for sensory bias. The responses to selection on foraging and mating preferences were independent of one another. Second, I selected on foraging preferences alone and asked whether there were correlated responses for increased mating preferences for like-colored mates. Here, I found modest evidence for sensory bias. Selection for a particular foraging preference resulted in increased mating preference for similarly colored mates. However, the correlated responses were small and inconsistent. Selection on foraging preferences alone may affect initial levels of mating preferences, but these correlations did not constrain the joint evolution of foraging and mating preferences in these simulations.

Genetic architecture of sensory exploitation: QTL mapping of female and male receiver traits in an acoustic moth

“…Previous genetic studies and molecular analyses conducted in A. grisella indicated that male song and female sexual preferences are heritable and independent traits (Collins et al ., ; Jang & Greenfield, ; Zhou et al ., ; Limousin et al ., ). These results are consistent with sensory exploitation, as genetic linkage between sexual signal and preference traits is not expected under this process (Fuller, ). The genetics of defensive behaviour have not been investigated as thoroughly, but a recent study using inbred lines suggested that sexual and defensive responses, in both males and females, might also be genetically independent (Greenfield & Hohendorf, ).…”

“…In accordance with our initial expectation, this finding indicates that the genetic architecture of these traits has evolved since the origin of the male song via sensory exploitation. Our result is consistent with recent theoretical and experimental studies on sensory exploitation that reported that environmental and sexual receiver traits have the potential to evolve independently despite sharing a common sensory system (Greenfield, ; Macias‐Garcia & Ramirez, ; Arnqvist, ; Fuller, ). It is also consistent with the specific finding in A. grisella that separate ‘auditory streams’ appear to process sexual and bat signals (Greenfield & Hohendorf, ; Lafaille et al ., ).…”

“…The genetics of defensive behaviour have not been investigated as thoroughly, but a recent study using inbred lines suggested that sexual and defensive responses, in both males and females, might also be genetically independent (Greenfield & Hohendorf, ). This finding differs from the expectation under the narrower sense of sensory exploitation, where some level of pleiotropy is predicted (Fuller, ). Thus, female sexual responses appear to have diverged from their original, defensive function in A. grisella .…”

A Sensory Bias Has Triggered the Evolution of Egg-Spots in Cichlid Fishes

“…Male swordtail characins, on the other hand, possess extended and pigmented opercular paddles that resemble invertebrate prey organisms [20]. Computer simulations also revealed that – at least under some circumstances – foraging preferences may result in increased mating preferences for similarly colored mates [21]. It has further been shown that disruptive female preferences in three-spine sticklebacks are linked to the visual systems' adaptation to different light regimes [22].…”

Runaway Sexual Selection Leads to Good Genes

“…Although Avida has previously been used to study evolution in microbe‐like systems (Lenski et al 1999; Wilke et al 2001; Lenski et al 2003; Chow et al 2004; Misevic et al 2006; Clune et al 2011), we added new features resembling those found in more complex organisms, specifically the ingredients necessary for mate choice to evolve: sexual recombination (Misevic et al 2006) with distinct mating types (males and females), and configurable sex‐specific reproductive costs reflecting the differential investments (anisogamy) made by each sex in most animals; CPU instructions allowing organisms to develop display traits; and CPU instructions allowing females to exhibit directional mating preferences, analogous to sensory biases thought to trigger the evolution of new mate preferences (Fuller et al 2005; Fuller 2009; Egger et al 2011), with configurable costs for these mating preferences. Mating occurs in an area similar to a lek, with a number of competing males displaying at any given time, and females choosing among them.…”