Male trait distribution determined alternative mating tactics in guppies

Jirotkul, M.

doi:10.1111/j.1095-8649.2000.tb02154.x

Cited by 20 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 48 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…The mating tactics of male guppies, in increasing order of presumed energetic investment, include sneaking cop ulations without courtship display, displaying to females before copulation (courtship), and aggressively inhibiting rival males (Rodd and Sokolowski 1995;Houde 1997;Jirotkul 2000;Kelly and Godin 2001). Male-male aggres sion occurs in two basic contexts, which, for brevity, we call "competition" and "dominance" .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and genetic influences on mating strategies along a replicated food availability gradient in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Kolluru

Grether

Contreras

2006

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Food availability is expected to influence the relative cost of different mating tactics, but little attention has been paid to this potential source of adaptive geographic variation in behavior. Associations between the frequency of different mating tactics and resource availability could arise because tactic use responds directly to food intake (phenotypic plasticity), because populations exposed to different average levels of food availability have diverged genetically in tactic use, or both. Different populations of guppies (Poecilia reticulata) in Trinidad experience different average levels of food availability. We combined field observations with laboratory "common garden" and diet experiments to examine how this environmental gradient has influenced the evolution of male mating tactics. Three independent components of variation in male behavior were found in the field: courtship versus foraging, dominance interactions, and interference competition versus searching for mates. Com pared with low-food-availability sites, males at high-food availability sites devoted more effort to interference competition. This difference disappeared in the common garden experiment, which suggests that it was caused by phenotypic plasticity and not genetic divergence. In the diet experiment, interference competition was more frequent and intense among males raised on the greater of two food levels, but this was only true for fish descended from sites with low food availability. Thus, the association between interference competition and food availability in the field can be attributed to a genetically variable norm of reaction.Genetically variable norms of reaction with respect to food intake were found for the other two behavioral components as well and are discussed in relation to the p atterns observed in the field. Our results indicate that food availability gradients are an important, albeit complex, source of geographic variation in male mating strategies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental and genetic influences on mating strategies along a replicated food availability gradient in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Kolluru

Grether

Contreras

2006

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…None of the three Poeciliopsis species exhibited any black pigmentation on their fins, irrespective of size. In other poeciliid species, male fin coloration (along with size) has been implicated in both female choice and the outcome of male-male encounters (Constanz, 1975;Endler, 1984;Franck et al, 2003;Horth et al, 2010;Hurtado-Gonzales & Uy, 2009;Jirotkul, 2000;Kingston et al, 2003;Kolluru et al, 2014;Ptacek et al, 2005). Thus, our interpretation of these significant patterns in the lecithotrophic species studied here is that they are likely functioning in a similar context.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 60%

Female reproductive mode shapes allometric scaling of male traits in live‐bearing fishes (family Poeciliidae)

Furness

Hagmayer

Pollux

2021

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Reproductive mode is predicted to influence the form of sexual selection. The viviparity‐driven conflict hypothesis posits that a shift from lecithotrophic (yolk‐nourished) to matrotrophic (mother‐nourished or placental) viviparity drives a shift from precopulatory towards post‐copulatory sexual selection. In lecithotrophic species, we predict that precopulatory sexual selection will manifest as males exhibiting a broad distribution of sizes, and small and large males exhibiting contrasting phenotypes (morphology and coloration); conversely, in matrotrophic species, an emphasis on post‐copulatory sexual selection will preclude these patterns. We test these predictions by gathering data on male size, morphology and coloration for five sympatric Costa Rican poeciliid species that differ in reproductive mode (i.e. lecithotrophy vs. matrotrophy). We find tentative support for these predictions of the viviparity‐driven conflict hypothesis, with some interesting caveats and subtleties. In particular, we find that the three lecithotrophic species tend to show a broader distribution of male sizes than matrotrophic species. Furthermore, large males of such species tend to exhibit proportionately large dorsal and caudal fins and short gonopodia relative to small males, while these patterns are expressed to a lesser extent in the two matrotrophic species. Finally, large males in some of the lecithotrophic species exhibit darker fins relative to small males, a pattern not evident in either matrotrophic species. One unexpected finding was that even in the matrotrophic species Poeciliopsis retropinna and Poeciliopsis paucimaculata, which lack courtship and dichromatic coloration, some morphological traits exhibit significant allometric relationships, suggesting that even in these species precopulatory sexual selection may be present and shaping size‐specific male phenotypes in subtle ways.

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“…A conditional tactic such as sneaking should be maintained in the population despite having lower average fitness if the males adopting the sneaker tactic will obtain greater reproductive success by sneaking than by fighting among competitively superior males (Gross 1984). These conditional tactics presumably have an accompanying lower time and energy expenditure (Arak 1988;Takamura 1999;Jirotkul 2000a) and are typically considered low-cost, low-payoff strategies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative costs and benefits of territorial defense and the two conditional male mating tactics in the Comanche Springs pupfish ( Cyprinodon elegans )

Leiser

Itzkowitz

2002

Acta ethologica

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We examined the aggressive costs and reproductive benefits of territorial defense and its alternatives in a population of the Comanche Springs pupfish (Cyprinodon elegans). The breeding system was characterized by three different male mating tactics: territorial defense, satellite positioning, and sneak spawning. The mating tactic adopted by males reflected the males' sizes. Territorial residents were the largest, satellites were medium-sized, and sneakers were the smallest adult males observed. Consistent with the hypothesis that primary mating tactics are relatively high-cost, high-benefit strategies, we found that territorial males engaged in a number of aggressive encounters but had higher reproductive successes than any other males. However, our observations did not support the premise that conditionally breeding males engage in relatively low-benefit, low-cost tactics. Medium satellites and small sneakers acquired fewer spawns than did territorial males, but both satellites and sneakers were involved in as much aggression as territorials. That is, the data supported the prediction that satellite or sneaker males with the inability to compete for territories would attempt to accrue some reproductive opportunities in the presence of territorial males despite the high costs of spending time on the breeding grounds. Adopting conditional tactics appeared to allow satellites and sneakers to make the best of a bad situation. During a subsequent breeding season, large males were absent from the population, and medium-sized males established territories. The aggressive behavior exhibited by medium residents was similar to the previous year, but these males did not acquire higher reproductive successes than medium satellites had. The implications of switching tactics and the influence of operational sex ratios on the costs and benefits of the male tactics are briefly addressed.

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Male trait distribution determined alternative mating tactics in guppies

Cited by 20 publications

References 48 publications

Environmental and genetic influences on mating strategies along a replicated food availability gradient in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Environmental and genetic influences on mating strategies along a replicated food availability gradient in guppies (Poecilia reticulata)

Female reproductive mode shapes allometric scaling of male traits in live‐bearing fishes (family Poeciliidae)

The relative costs and benefits of territorial defense and the two conditional male mating tactics in the Comanche Springs pupfish ( Cyprinodon elegans )

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