Do females preferentially associate with males given a better start in life?

Kahn, Andrew T.; Livingston, Julianne D.; Jennions, Michael D.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2011.1106

Cited by 29 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Together these studies suggest that early diet could have fitness consequences that only become apparent in adulthood. Our findings are similar to those in other species where males on different diets superficially look the same, but differ in social dominance [57], telomere length or plasma antioxidant levels (e.g. [13]).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…In a previous study we also showed that early life diet influences male attractiveness in G. holbrooki [57]. Together these studies suggest that early diet could have fitness consequences that only become apparent in adulthood.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

“…In contrast, and unexpectedly, males on the control diet had relatively shorter gonopodia than those on the restricted diet, when they were of small or average body size. Our results, combined with those from our previous studies [56, 57], suggest that a poor diet early in life not only has the immediate cost of delayed maturation, but might impose additional costs if lower sperm production, slower swimming sperm, and deviations from the normal gonopodium-body size allometry reduce male fertilisation success under sperm competition.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

“…In two earlier studies we showed that males with limited food intake as juveniles reach a similar size to males on a normal diet due to delayed maturation [55, 56]. Additionally, we showed that males with a poor start in life are less attractive to females than those reared on a regular diet [57]. Mosquitofish are poecillid fishes characterised by frequent, coercive mating attempts and intense sexual selection, including sperm competition [54, 58, 59].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are sexually selected traits affected by a poor environment early in life?

2016

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BackgroundChallenging conditions experienced early in life, such as a restricted diet, can detrimentally affect key life-history traits. Individuals can reduce these costs by delaying their sexual maturation, albeit at the price of the later onset of breeding, to eventually reach the same adult size as individuals that grow up in a benevolent environment. Delayed maturation can, however, still lead to other detrimental morphological and physiological changes that become apparent later in adulthood (e.g. shorter lifespan, faster senescence). In general, research focuses on the naturally selected costs of a poor early diet. In mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki), males with limited food intake early in life delay maturation to reach a similar adult body size to their well-fed counterparts (‘catch-up growth’). Here we tested whether a poor early diet is costly due to the reduced expression of sexually selected male characters, namely genital size and ejaculate traits.ResultsWe found that a male’s diet early in life significantly influenced his sperm reserves and sperm replenishment rate. Shortly after maturation males with a restricted early diet had significantly lower sperm reserves and slower replenishment rates than control diet males, but this dietary difference was no longer detectable in older males.ConclusionsAlthough delaying maturation to reach the same body size as well fed juveniles can ameliorate some costs of a poor start in life, our findings suggest that costs might still arise because of sexual selection against these males. It should be noted, however, that the observed effects are modest (Hedges’ g = 0.20–0.36), and the assumption that lower sperm production translates into a decline in fitness under sperm competition remains unconfirmed.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0838-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Are sexually selected traits affected by a poor environment early in life?

2016

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“…2001; Kahn et al. 2012; but see: Bisazza and Marin 1991, 1995). Greater association time might increase mating success for large males if it increases access to females (Bisazza and Marin 1991; McPeek 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictors of male insemination success in the mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki)

Head

Vega‐Trejo

Jacomb

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Identifying targets of selection is key to understanding the evolution of sexually selected behavioral and morphological traits. Many animals have coercive mating, yet little is known about whether and how mate choice operates when these are the dominant mating tactic. Here, we use multivariate selection analysis to examine the direction and shape of selection on male insemination success in the mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). We found direct selection on only one of five measured traits, but correlational selection involving all five traits. Larger males with longer gonopodia and with intermediate sperm counts were more likely to inseminate females than smaller males with shorter gonopodia and extreme sperm counts. Our results highlight the need to investigate sexual selection using a multivariate framework even in species that lack complex sexual signals. Further, female choice appears to be important in driving the evolution of male sexual traits in this species where sexual coercion is the dominant mating tactic.

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