Female Mate Choice

Male provisioning ability may have evolved as a “good dad” indicator through sexual selection, whereas male creativity may have evolved partly as a “good genes” indicator. If so, women near peak fertility (midcycle) should prefer creativity over wealth, especially in short-term mating. Forty-one normally cycling women read vignettes describing creative but poor men vs. uncreative but rich men. Women’s estimated fertility predicted their short-term (but not long-term) preference for creativity over wealth, in both their desirability ratings of individual men (r=.40, pr=.46, p

Humans are highly sexually dimorphic primates, and some of the most conspicuous human sex differences occur in the face and voice. Consequently, this article utilizes research findings on human faces and voices to illustrate how human sex differences may have arisen by sexual selection (i.e., the type of natural selection favoring traits that increase mating opportunities). Evidence suggesting that sexual selection shaped women's faces and voices is reviewed. However, sexual selection likely operated more strongly on men over human evolution. Thus, this research focuses on two types of sexual selection operating on men: female mate choice, which favors traits that attract females, and male contests, which favor traits for excluding competitors from mates by force or threat of force. This article demonstrates how masculine faces and voices advertize critical information about men's mate value and threat potential, and reviews evidence that women's preferences and men's deference to masculine faces and voices reflect this information content. Data suggesting that facial and vocal masculinity influences men's mating opportunities and reproduction are discussed, and the article concludes by highlighting directions for future research.

Humans are highly sexually dimorphic primates, and some of the most conspicuous human sex differences occur in the face and voice. Consequently, this article utilizes research findings on human faces and voices to illustrate how human sex differences may have arisen by sexual selection (i.e., the type of natural selection favoring traits that increase mating opportunities). Evidence suggesting that sexual selection shaped women's faces and voices is reviewed. However, sexual selection likely operated more strongly on men over human evolution. Thus, this research focuses on two types of sexual selection operating on men: female mate choice, which favors traits that attract females, and male contests, which favor traits for excluding competitors from mates by force or threat of force. This article demonstrates how masculine faces and voices advertize critical information about men's mate value and threat potential, and reviews evidence that women's preferences and men's deference to masculine faces and voices reflect this information content. Data suggesting that facial and vocal masculinity influences men's mating opportunities and reproduction are discussed, and the article concludes by highlighting directions for future research.

This study investigated whether male body colour is a trait upon which females of Skiffia multipunctata, a viviparous fish of the subfamily Goodeinae, base their choice of potential mate. About 60% of the males in the study had black patches on the sides of their bodies and/or dorsal fins. Patches varied in number, size and distribution. Most males (70% of the fish in the study) had diffuse orange colouration on their flanks, mainly on the peduncle. The hypothesis was that, after controlling for differences in body size, females would choose males with more black or orange colouration than males with less exaggerated patches of colour. However, in contrast to this hypothesis, females preferentially approached the males with less black colouration. Since orange colouration did not have a significant effect on female response, and there was no correlation between black and orange colours on the males in the study, females rejected males with more black colouration rather than preferring males with more orange or other visible colours. These findings indicate that sexual selection by female mate choice is not driving black or orange male body colouration in Skiffia multipunctata.

Keywords Goodeines - Freshwater fish - Melanin - Carotenoids - Sexual selection

In several species, mate choice is influenced by parental features through sexual imprinting, but in humans evidence is scarce and open to alternative explanations. We examined whether daughters' preference for mates with light vs dark eyes is affected by the eye colour of parents. In an online study, over one thousand women rated the attractiveness of men as potential partners for either a long-or a short-term relationship. Each male face was shown twice, with light (blue or green) and with dark (brown or dark brown) eyes. Having a light-eyed father increased the preference for light-eyed men in both relationship contexts. Having light eyes increased this preference too, but only when men were regarded as potential long-term companions. Asymmetrically, in real life, father's eye colour was the only predictor of partner's eye colour; own colour was irrelevant. Mother's eye colour never mattered, affecting neither preferences nor real-life choices. The effect of paternal eye colour was modulated by the quality of the relationship between father and daughter, suggesting (flexible) sexual imprinting rather than a simple inheritance of maternal preferences. Our data provide evidence that in humans, as in birds and sheep, visual experience of parental features shapes later sexual preferences.

As already noted by Darwin (1871) sexual selection is a fundamental evolutionary force which operates (i) through competition between individuals for access to breeding partners which in males leads to the evolution of different forms of weaponry and fighting ability, and (ii) through female mate selection, leading to the evolution of various forms of even exagerated ornamentation (peakok’s tail) in males which are used to prove their genetic quality. Sexual selection attains estreme levels in lek breeding where many males and females congregate in a small area for mating for fierce competition. Typically behavioural scientists observe how many copulation each male is able to obtain in the lek and correlate it to male phenotypic morphological, functional and behavioural traits to investigate which factors promote copulatory success. We rewieved the principal statistical methods which have been used and we pinpoint their weaknesses and limitations. Lastly we present a cross-sectional data analyses of lekking fallow deer. Data have been collected in the population of fallow deer of the Preserve of Castelporziano (Rome, Italy) during the rut within the lekking area. Bucks were taped and individually identified. We showed that few males are resposable for most of copulations and we studied the causal factors explaining the differences in mating success, using Generalized Structural Equation Models (GSEM) with a pdf Zero Inflated Poisson (ZIP) for copulations. A total of 10 behavioural variables (dominance, reproductive success, harem size, lek attendance, antlers shape and asymmetry) were used in the statistical analysis. We developed two a priori models to test two principal hypothesis: female choice in which we assumed that females preferred a male for its good genes; male dominance in which we assumed that copulatory success is depending on bucks’ dominance rank. Model comparison and analysis of the models’ fitting showed that the female choice model better explains the observed covariance patterns.

While species-assortative behaviour is often observed in sympatrically occurring species, there are few examples where we understand the extent to which development of assortative behaviour is genetically or environmentally determined, for instance, through learning. However, the majority of mate choice theory assumes genetic recognition mechanisms. Knowledge about the development of species recognition is important for our understanding of how closely related species can coexist and how this coexistence may have arisen. The ontogeny of female mate choice, for instance, may critically influence the degree of assortative mating under many circumstances. Also, male assortative aggression behaviour may affect fitness and the possibility for coexistence of two closely related species. Here, we test whether male aggression biases and female mate preferences of two Lake Victoria rock cichlid species, Mbipia mbipi and Mbipia lutea, are affected by experience. With an interspecific cross-fostering experiment, we test for the effect of experience with the phenotype of the mother and that of the siblings on species-assortative mate preferences and aggression biases. We demonstrate that female mate preferences are strongly influenced by learning about their mothers’ phenotype but not by experience with their siblings, despite ample opportunity for interactions. Male aggression biases, in contrast, are affected by experience with siblings but not by learning about their mothers’ phenotype. We suggest that the development of assortative behaviour of females, but not of males, creates favourable conditions for sympatric speciation in Lake Victoria cichlids.

Based on the assumptions that birdsong indicates male quality and that quality is related to age, one might expect older birds to signal their age. That is, in addition to actual body condition, at least some song features should vary with age, presumably towards more complexity. We investigated this issue by comparing repertoire sizes of free-ranging common nightingale males in their first breeding season with those of older males. Nightingales are a good model species as they are open-ended learners, where song acquisition is not confined to an early sensitive period of learning. Moreover, nightingales develop an extraordinarily large song-type repertoire (approx. 180 different song types per male), and differences in repertoire size among males are pronounced. We analysed repertoire characteristics of the nocturnal song of nine nightingales in their first breeding season and compared them with the songs of nine older males. The repertoire size of older males was on average 53% larger than that of yearlings. When analysing two song categories of nightingales, whistle and non-whistle songs separately, we found similar results. Our findings show marked differences in repertoire size between age categories, suggesting that this song feature may reflect a male's age. We discuss those mechanisms that may constrain the development of larger repertoires in first-year males. Whether repertoire sizes are crucial for female mate choice or in vocal interactions among conspecific males remains open to further investigations.

Labroid fishes (Perciformes: Labroidei) possess a highly developed pharyngeal jaw apparatus (PJA). A tremendous body of literature describes the anatomy and function in feeding in these fishes. For fishes of the families Pomacentridae and Cichlidae (damselfishes and cichlids), there are also numerous descriptions of the sounds these male fishes produce in reproductive or agonistic behavioral contexts. A growing amount of acoustic, behavioral, and physiological circumstantial evidence draws support for the PJA also being the sound producing mechanism. The present review discusses the evolutionary and ecological aspects of the PJA, the anatomy and function, as well as the acoustical biology of pomacentrids and cichlids. Using existing evidence, we propose and examine the possibility that the PJA (either muscles and/or bone) is used in this behavior. Should the PJA be involved in sound production, the duality in function for both feeding and sound production creates an interrelationshi...

Keywords: male investment maleemale competition mate choice mating systems monandry multiple mating polyandry Choosing the right mate can be critical to fitness, particularly for females of species that mate only once. One key trait by which females choose mates is male age. However, while some theories predict that females should prefer older males, others predict exactly the opposite. The evidence is also mixed, with females preferring older males in some species, and younger in others. Here we examined female preference for male age in a monandrous species, the fruit fly Drosophila subobscura. We found consistent preference for older males in four populations, from the U.K., Greece, Spain and Tunisia. Preference for older males was weaker in trials in which two males were presented to a female than in single-male trials. This preference for older males is probably driven by direct benefits: females that mated with older males produced more offspring. As this species is monandrous, it is very likely that this increase in offspring production is a genuine male-derived benefit, rather than females laying more eggs after mating with a preferred male. Previous work suggests that maleemale interactions prior to mating can have a major impact on mating behaviour and success in males of this species and other Drosophila. We found varying effects of prior exposure to rival males, but in general younger males suffered more when exposed to a rival than older males. This study suggests that age-based preference by females can be consistent across populations with very different environments, even when those populations differ in other key mating-related traits such as offspring production and copulation duration.