Male phenotypic diversity experienced during ontogeny mediates female mate choice in guppies

Macario, Alessandro; Croft, Darren P.; Darden, Safi K.

doi:10.1093/beheco/ary186

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 74 publications

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“…I suggest that population estimates may be used by organisms in behavioral contexts beyond kin recognition. Altering the distribution of color pattern phenotypes of the social group within which female guppies develop can affect their mating preferences (66)(67)(68). The effects observed in these studies were complex and differed from the patterns I report here.…”

Section: Population Estimation Provides a Critical Link Between Kin Rmentioning

confidence: 64%

It’s all relative: population estimates enhance kin recognition in the guppy

Daniel¹

2020

Preprint

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23Kin recognition plays a fundamental role in social evolution, enabling active inbreeding 24 avoidance, nepotism, and promoting cooperative social organization. Many organisms 25 recognize kin based on phenotypic similarity -a process called phenotype matching -by 26 comparing information associated with their own phenotype against the phenotypes of 27 conspecifics. However, recent theory demonstrates that to accurately judge phenotypic 28 similarity (and hence, relatedness), individuals require estimates of the population's 29 distribution of phenotypes as a "frame of reference." Here, I use the Trinidadian guppy 30 (Poecilia reticulata) to provide the first empirical test of this population estimation 31 theory. I varied the phenotypic distributions of the groups in which focal individuals 32 developed and found that, as adults, their patterns of inbreeding avoidance and nepotistic 33 intrasexual competition differed as predicted by population estimation theory. Individuals 34 reared with conspecifics more similar to themselves treated novel conspecifics as less 35 closely related, suggesting a shifted population estimate. Individuals reared with more 36 phenotypically variable conspecifics exhibited less extreme kin discrimination, 37 suggesting a broader population estimate. These results provide experimental evidence 38 that population estimates inform phenotype matching, and are acquired plastically 39 through social experience. By calibrating phenotype matching to the population 40 distribution of phenotypes, population estimation enhances kin recognition, increasing 41 opportunities for the evolution of inbreeding avoidance and nepotism. 42 14). To do so, the evaluator acquires information associated with its own phenotype, 58 either through self-inspection or by observing the phenotypes of its putative kin (e.g. 59 parents or broodmates), and stores this information internally as a "kin template." 60 Subsequently, the evaluator can compare the kin template against the phenotype of a 61 given conspecific to infer its phenotypic (and hence, genetic) similarity. The evaluator 62 infers relatedness based on the degree of similarity between the conspecific and kin 63 template, and conditions its social actions upon this information. Phenotype matching 64 may, in principle, rely on any phenotypic cue(s)-whether heritable and/or 65

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Section: Population Estimation Provides a Critical Link Between Kin Rmentioning

confidence: 64%