Mate Choice

Gil G. Rosenthal is professor of biology and of ecology and evolutionary biology at Texas A&M University. He is codirector of the CICHAZ field station in central Mexico.

Preface xi

PART 1. MECHANISMS

Chapter 1. Mate Choice and Mating Preferences:

An Overview

1.1 Introduction 3

1.2. What is mate choice? 10

1.3. Choosers and courters, not females and males 11

1.4. Mate choice is distinct from sexual selection 12

1.5. Preference and antipathy underlie realized mate choices 13

1.6. Preference functions 15

1.7. Stages of mate choice 23

1.8. Mate choice as a problem in animal communication 26

1.9. Prospectus 29

1.10. Additional reading 30

Chapter 2. Measuring Preferences and Choices

2.1. Introduction 31

2.2. Measuring mate choice using mating outcomes 33

2.3. Empirical assays of preference: where to begin 35

2.4. Measures of preference 35

2.5. Stimuli used in preference assays 41

2.6. Repeatability of preferences 47

2.7. Sequential versus simultaneous assays 48

2.8. Other concerns with study design and interpretation 51

2.9. Synthesis: measuring mate choice and mating preferences in the twenty-first century 53

2.10. Additional reading 56

Chapter 3. The First Steps in Mate Choice: Preference Functions and Sensory Transduction

3.1. Introduction 57

3.2. Common features of sensory systems 63

3.3. Chemoreception 75

3.4. Vision 78

3.5. Hearing 80

3.6. Other modalities 83

3.7. Sensory constraints on mating preferences 85

3.8. Synthesis 89

3.9. Additional reading 89

Chapter 4. Beyond the Periphery: Perception, Cognition, and Multivariate Preferences

4.1. Introduction 91

4.2. Mechanisms of perceptual integration 101

4.3. Categorical perception 107

4.4. Integration rules for complex preferences 110

4.5. Synthesis: complex preferences as integrated phenotypes 116

4.6. Additional reading 120

Chapter 5. Aesthetics and Evaluation in Mate Choice

5.1. Introduction: "A taste for the beautiful" 121

5.2. Universals of beauty? 123

5.3. Detection and evaluation as distinct components of mate choice 126

5.4. Mechanisms of evaluation 130

5.5. Evaluative mechanisms and perception are related: "beauty in the processing experience" 137

5.6. Plasticity and evolvability of evaluative mechanisms 137

5.7. Additional reading 138

Chapter 6. From Preferences to Choices: Mate Sampling and Mating Decisions

6.1. Introduction 139

6.2. The biological context of mate choice 142

6.3. Mate sampling algorithms in theory and practice 148

6.4. Sequential and static: fixed-threshold rules 148

6.5. Sequential and dynamic: adjustable thresholds 149

6.6. Simultaneous and static: comparative evaluation and (in)transitivity 158

6.7. Simultaneous and dynamic: best-of- n, comparative Bayes, and random walk 163

6.8. Sampling multiple traits 165

6.9. Recognition 166

6.10. Executing choices 167

6.11. The marginal cost of sampling and choice 169

6.12. Synthesis 171

6.13. Additional reading 173

Chapter 7. Mate Choice During and After Mating

7.1. Introduction 174

7.2. Remating and choice of multiple mates 177

7.3. Biasing fertilization 179

7.4. Resource allocation to offspring 191

7.5. Mate choice across stages: premating decisions and cryptic choice 194

7.6. Synthesis: what is different about cryptic choice? 196

7.7. Additional reading 200

Chapter 8. Mutual Mate Choice

8.1. Introduction 201

8.2. Reciprocal preferences 202

8.3. Social promiscuity and mutual mate choice 205

8.4. Pairing decisions: finding a social mate 213

8.5. Pair bonding 220

8.6. Mate choice in hermaphrodites 225

8.7. Synthesis 225

8.8. Additional reading 227

Chapter 9. Variation in Preferences and Choices: General Considerations

9.1. Overview 228

9.2. Scales of variation 231

9.3. Repeatability 232

9.4. Covariates of preference variation 251

9.5. Same-sex sexual behavior 260

9.6. Synthesis 261

9.7. Additional reading 262

Chapter 10. Variation I: Genetics

10.1. Overview 263

10.2. Interspecific genetic differences 265

10.3. Genetic mapping 268

10.4. Genetic variation in natural populations 270

10.5. The genetic architecture of mating preferences 279

10.6. Functional characterization of preference genes 284

10.7. Synthesis 286

10.8. Additional reading 287

Chapter 11. Variation II: Biotic and Abiotic Environment

11.1. Introduction 288

11.2. Context-sensitive effects 288

11.3. State-dependent preferences 290

11.4. Genotype-by-environment interactions 299

11.5. Synthesis 304

11.6. Additional reading 305

Chapter 12. Variation III: Social Environment and Epigenetics

12.1. Introduction 306

12.2. Social effects before birth: epigenetic and parental effects 307

12.3. Social status before and after maturity 312

12.4. Early learning: impacts on preferences 313

12.5. Mechanisms of early learning 318

12.6. Variation in early learning 324

12.7. Social experience after sexual maturity 327

12.8. Nonindependent mate choice and copying 328

12.9. Genotype by environment revisited: the instinct to learn 332

12.10. Synthesis 335

12.11. Additional reading 338

PART 2. ORIGINS, EVOLUTION, AND CONSEQUENCES

Chapter 13. Origins and Histories of Mating Preferences: Chooser Biases

13.1. Introduction 341

13.2. Preferences have histories 346

13.3. Perceptual biases 348

13.4. Biases from non-choice functions 350

13.5. Novel responses of preference mechanisms 352

13.6. Byproduct biases: novel biases shaped by current signals 353

13.7. Synthesis 354

13.8. Additional reading 357

Chapter 14. Selection on Mate Choice and Mating Preferences

14.1. Introduction 358

14.2. Selection on preferences for courter traits 359

14.3. Evolution of choosiness and mate-sampling strategies 372

14.4. When to choose: pre-versus postmating 378

14.5. Evolution of plastic preferences 381

14.6. Constraints on preference evolution 383

14.7. Coercion and choice 384

14.8. Synthesis 385

14.9. Additional reading 387

Chapter 15. Dynamic Evolution of Preferences, Strategies, and Traits

15.1. Introduction 388

15.2. Genetic covariance drives preference evolution: the Fisher-Lande-Kirkpatrick
null model 389

15.3. Constraints on genetic covariance: (mis)alignment of preferences and traits 396

15.4. Adaptive coevolution 402

15.5. Mode of transmission and preference-trait coevolution 410

15.6. The limits of indirect selection 412

15.7. Mate choice in context: social and life history evolution 419

15.8. Compatibility and epistasis 424

15.9. Mate choice as an agent of trait evolution 426

15.10. Population-level consequences of mate choice 428

15.11. Coevolution of multiple traits and preferences 431

15.12. Synthesis: a unified view of preference evolution 434

15.13. Additional reading 437

Chapter 16. Mate Choice, Speciation, and Hybridization

16.1. Introduction 439

16.2. Divergence of preferences among isolated populations 440

16.3. Divergence of preferences with secondary contact 444

16.4. Reinforcement and speciation with gene flow 450

16.5. Conspecific mate preference and intraspecific mate choice 461

16.6. Mate choice and genetic exchange 462

16.7. Synthesis 471

16.8. Additional reading 472

Chapter 17. Mate Choice and Human Exceptionalism

17.1. Introduction 473

17.2. Social influences on human mating decisions 476

17.3. Variation in human mating preferences 478

17.4. Synthesis: integrating evolutionary and social-science approaches to human sexuality 480

17.5. Additional reading 481

Chapter 18. Conclusions: A Mate-Choice View of the World

18.1. The sweep of mate choice 482

18.2. From sexual selection to preference evolution 483

18.3. How we talk about mate choice 484

18.4. How we study mate choice 485

18.5. Four open questions about mate-choice mechanisms 486

18.6. Mate choice and total selection 488

18.7. Synthesis: mate choice and its consequences 492

Glossary 493

Literature Cited 505

Subject Index 617

Taxonomic Index 629