The Evolution of Mate Choice Copying by Indirect Selection

A two-locus, two-allele population genetic model is used to study whether an allele for mate choice copying can become fixed in a population when it has no direct fitness benefit and there is therefore no cost due to choice. All females have an intrinsic preference for males with a certain trait. If they have the copying allele, they modify this preference on the basis of observations of an older cohort's mating patterns. Our specific model suggests a general rule: copying alleles spread when copying causes females to mate males that have higher total lifetime fitness. It is therefore possible for copying to evolve both when females have preexisting preferences for high-viability males (good genes) and when females are copying a preference for a trait that impairs male survival. Copying can spread through the force of indirect selection even when there is mild direct selection against the copying allele.

[1]  Robert M. Gibson,et al.  The costs of female choice in a lekking bird , 1992 .

[2]  L A Dugatkin,et al.  Reversal of female mate choice by copying in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata) , 1992, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences.

[3]  T. Telecky,et al.  Copying Others, an Evolutionarily Stable Strategy for Mate Choice: A Model , 1986, The American Naturalist.

[4]  M. Kirkpatrick,et al.  The evolution of mating preferences and the paradox of the lek , 1991, Nature.

[5]  P. O'donald.  Genetic Models of Sexual Selection , 1980 .

[6]  Lawrence S. Kroll.  Mathematica--A System for Doing Mathematics by Computer. , 1989 .

[7]  M. Ryan,et al.  Benefit to male sailfin mollies of mating with heterospecific females. , 1994, Science.

[8]  Yoh Iwasa,et al.  THE EVOLUTION OF COSTLY MATE PREFERENCES I. FISHER AND BIASED MUTATION , 1991, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[9]  Lee Alan Dugatkin,et al.  Female mate copying in the guppy {Poecilia reticulata): age-dependent effects , 1993 .

[10]  A. Lill,et al.  Sexual behavior of the lek-forming white-bearded manakin (Manacus manacus trinitatis Hartert). , 2010, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie.

[11]  Robert M. Gibson,et al.  Mate-choice copying in black grouse , 1995, Animal Behaviour.

[12]  Lee Alan Dugatkin,et al.  Sexual Selection and Imitation: Females Copy the Mate Choice of Others , 1992, The American Naturalist.

[13]  J. Bradbury,et al.  Mate choice in lekking sage grouse revisited: the roles of vocal display , 1991 .

[14]  K. Laland,et al.  ON THE EVOLUTIONARY CONSEQUENCES OF SEXUAL IMPRINTING , 1994, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[15]  M. Kirkpatrick.  SEXUAL SELECTION BY FEMALE CHOICE IN POLYGYNOUS ANIMALS , 1987 .

[16]  M J Wade,et al.  Female copying increases the variance in male mating success. , 1990, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[17]  R. Meldola.  Sexual Selection , 1871, Nature.

[18]  J. Höglund,et al.  Copying the Mate Choice of Others? Observations On Female Black Grouse , 1990 .

[19]  M. Kirkpatrick.  SEXUAL SELECTION AND THE EVOLUTION OF FEMALE CHOICE , 1982, Evolution; international journal of organic evolution.

[20]  K. Laland,et al.  Sexual selection with a culturally transmitted mating preference. , 1994, Theoretical population biology.

[21]  R. Lande.  Models of speciation by sexual selection on polygenic traits. , 1981, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[22]  J. Höglund,et al.  Copying and sexual selection. , 1992, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[23]  S. Pruett-Jones,et al.  Independent Versus Nonindependent Mate Choice: Do Females Copy Each Other? , 1992, The American Naturalist.