Genes, copying, and female mate choice: shifting thresholds

Abstract

Recent experimental work on guppics (PoeciUa nticulata) has crammed the strength of genetic and cultural (copying) factors in determining female mate choice. Using females from a population with a heritable preference for the amount of orange body color possessed by males, prior work discovered that a threshold difference in orange color among males existed below which females would choose a less orange male if they observed another female choose that male, but above which they consistently preferred the more orange of the males, regardless of whether they viewed another female prefer the less orange male. I tested whether this threshold can be shifted by increasing the amount of mate-copying information available to a female. I demonstrate that when a female has the opportunity to see two different model females independently prefer the less orange of two males or a single female near a drab male for a longer period of time (twice as long as in prior work), the observer female prefers this drab male even when males dramatically differ in orange coloration. Kty words: guppies, mate choice, mate copying, PoeciUa reticulata, sexual selection. [Behav Ecoi 9:323-327 (1998)]