Mate sampling influences the intensity of sexual selection and the evolution of costly sexual ornaments
Authored by Danilo G Muniz, Glauco Machado
Date Published: 2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.03.026
Sponsors:
San Paulo Research Foundation
Platforms:
R
Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Model Code URLs:
Model code not found
Abstract
Mate choice includes three steps: (1) a choosing individual encounters
potential mates, (2) assesses and processes information about them, and
(3) makes a mate decision. During mate searching females can access only
a sample of males in the mating pool and need to choose their mates
based on limited information. Thus, mate sampling may influence sexual
selection promoted by mate choice because it constrains female choice.
Using individual-based simulations, we found that both female choosiness
and mate sampling influenced the variance in mating success among males
and thus the intensity of sexual selection. So that sexual selection is
most intense when females are strongly choosy and can sample many males.
Moreover, in evolutionary simulations, the rate of evolutionary change
and the final size of male ornament increase with increasing mate
sampling. However, under stronger natural selection, evolutionary change
is slower and leads to smaller ornaments. Empirical data on the
potential for sexual selection (I-s) for several animal species show a
positive correlation between the intensity of sexual selection and an
index of mate sampling based on behavioral and ecological traits. Based
on the results of our simulations, we predict that males of highly
mobile species with long-range sexual signal transmission, which allow
females to assess many males, will show greater variance in mating
success and will be more ornamented than their relatives not exhibiting
these features. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Tags
Agent-based model
behavior
models
Strategy
ecology
population
Diversification
Natural selection
information filtering
Males
Characters
Preference
Female choice
Epigamic trait
I-mates
Preference function
Selection gradient
Sexually
selected trait
Phylogeny