The evolution of experience‐mediated plasticity in mate preferences

Fowler‐Finn, Kasey D.; Rodrı́guez, Rafael L.

doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2012.02573.x

Cited by 60 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(137 reference statements)

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“…Moreover, we show that two traits describing these mate preference functions, peak preference and preference selectivity, are influenced by their social neighbours. Of note is our detection of IGEs on peak preference, whereas previous studies addressing plasticity owing to social experience during adulthood have not resulted in shifts of peak preference [34,35]. IGEs on mate preferences may influence the course of sexual selection in various ways.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…Mate preferences are function-valued traits [34][35][36]. That means that a female's sexual response is a function of the signals she encounters.…”

Section: (C) Assessing Variation In Mate Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Males produce an advertisement signal, and if a female finds that signal attractive, she responds with her own signal [27,29]. A female's likelihood of responding is strongly correlated to the number of responses she gives to a signalling bout [29,34,35]. Thus, the number of times a female responds is a reliable indicator of male signal attractiveness.…”

Section: (C) Assessing Variation In Mate Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Preference selectivity describes how strongly a female disfavours signals as they deviate from her peak preference [34,38]. Following established methods, preference selectivity was a composite derived from measurements of three aspects of the shape of the mate preference functions: responsiveness, tolerance and strength [34,35]. Responsiveness describes the overall elevation of the curves and was calculated as the mean of an individual's responses.…”

Section: (D) Description Of Female Preference Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tolerance describes the shape of the curves as they fall away from peak preference, measured as the width of the preference function at two-thirds the height of the peak preference. Strength describes the steepness of the curve's descent from peak preference, measured as the square of the coefficient of variation [34,35,38]. These three measurements are strongly correlated, so we performed a principal component analysis to generate the composite trait we term preference selectivity.…”

Section: (D) Description Of Female Preference Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences

Rebar

Rodrı́guez

2013

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Patterns of phenotypic variation arise in part from plasticity owing to social interactions, and these patterns contribute, in turn, to the form of selection that shapes the variation we observe in natural populations. This proximate-ultimate dynamic brings genetic variation in social environments to the forefront of evolutionary theory. However, the extent of this variation remains largely unknown. Here, we use a member of the Enchenopa binotata species complex of treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae) to assess how mate preferences are influenced by genetic variation in the social environment. We used full-sibling split-families as 'treatment' social environments, and reared focal females alongside each treatment family, describing the mate preferences of the focal females. With this method, we detected substantial genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences. The mate preferences of focal females varied according to the treatment families along with which they grew up. We discuss the evolutionary implications of the presence of such genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences, including potential contributions to the maintenance of genetic variation, the promotion of divergence, and the adaptive evolution of social effects on fitness-related traits.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

“…Mate preferences are function-valued traits [34][35][36]. That means that a female's sexual response is a function of the signals she encounters.…”

Section: (C) Assessing Variation In Mate Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (C) Assessing Variation In Mate Preferencesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (D) Description Of Female Preference Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: (D) Description Of Female Preference Functionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences

Rebar

Rodrı́guez

2013

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Variation in signal–preference genetic correlations in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

Fowler‐Finn

Kilmer

Hallett

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Fisherian selection is a within-population process that promotes signal–preference coevolution and speciation due to signal–preference genetic correlations. The importance of the contribution of Fisherian selection to speciation depends in part on the answer to two outstanding questions: What explains differences in the strength of signal–preference genetic correlations? And, how does the magnitude of within-species signal–preference covariation compare to species differences in signals and preferences? To address these questions, we tested for signal–preference genetic correlations in two members of the Enchenopa binotata complex, a clade of plant-feeding insects wherein speciation involves the colonization of novel host plants and signal–preference divergence. We used a full-sibling, split-family rearing experiment to estimate genetic correlations and to analyze the underlying patterns of variation in signals and preferences. Genetic correlations were weak or zero, but exploration of the underlying patterns of variation in signals and preferences revealed some full-sib families that varied by as much as 50% of the distance between similar species in the E. binotata complex. This result was stronger in the species that showed greater amounts of genetic variation in signals and preferences. We argue that some forms of weak signal–preference genetic correlation may have important evolutionary consequences.

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Female mate choice of male signals is unlikely to promote ecological adaptation in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

Fowler‐Finn

Kilmer

Cruz

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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A key question in speciation research is how ecological and sexual divergence arise and interact. We tested the hypothesis that mate choice causes local adaptation and ecological divergence using the rationale that the performance~signal trait relationship should parallel the attractiveness~signal trait relationship. We used female fecundity as a measure of ecological performance. We used a species in the Enchenopa binotata treehopper complex, wherein speciation involves adaptation to novel environments and divergence in sexual communication. We used a full‐sibling, split‐family rearing design to estimate genetic correlations (r G) between fecundity and signal traits, and compared those relationships against population‐level mate preferences for the signal traits. Animal model estimates for r G between female fecundity and male signal traits overlapped zero—rejecting the hypothesis—but could reflect sample size limitations. The magnitude of r G correlated with the strength of the mate preferences for the corresponding signal traits, especially for signal frequency, which has the strongest mate preference and the most divergence in the complex. However, signal frequencies favored by the population‐level mate preference are not associated with high fecundity. Therefore, mate preferences do not appear to have been selected to favor high‐performance genotypes. Our findings suggest that ecological and sexual divergence may arise separately, but reinforce each other, during speciation.

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The evolution of experience‐mediated plasticity in mate preferences

Cited by 60 publications

References 60 publications

Genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences

Genetic variation in social influence on mate preferences

Variation in signal–preference genetic correlations in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

Female mate choice of male signals is unlikely to promote ecological adaptation in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

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