Fitness correlates of male coloration in a Lake Victoria cichlid fish |
| |
Authors: | Maan Martine E; van der Spoel Michael; Jimenez Paloma Quesada; van Alphen Jacques JM; Seehausen Ole |
| |
Institution: | a Department of Animal Ecology, Institute of Biology, University of Leiden, PO Box 9516, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands, b Department of Biology, University of Alcalá, E-28871 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain, c Department of Aquatic Ecology and Evolution, Institute of Zoology, University of Bern, Baltzerstrasse 6, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland, and d Swiss Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (EAWAG), Ecology Research Centre, Seestrasse 79, CH-6047 Kastanienbaum, Switzerland |
| |
Abstract: | Sexual selection by female choice has contributed to the rapidevolution of phenotypic diversity in the cichlid fish speciesflocks of East Africa. Yet, very little is known about the ecologicalmechanisms that drive the evolution of female mating preferences.We studied fitness correlates of male nuptial coloration ina member of a diverse Lake Victoria cichlid lineage, Pundamilianyererei. In this species, male red coloration is subject tointraspecific sexual selection by female mate choice. Male nuptialcoloration plays a critical role also in reproductive isolationbetween this species and the closely related sympatric speciesP. pundamilia. Here, we show that P. nyererei male colorationis carotenoid based, illustrating the potential for honest signalingof individual quality. In a wild population, we found that variationin male coloration was not associated with variation in a setof strongly intercorrelated indicators of male dominance: malesize, territory size, and territory location. Instead, the 2male characters that predominantly determine female choice,territory size and red coloration, may be independent predictorsof male quality: males with bright red coloration and largeterritories had lower parasite infestation rates. As a result,female preferences tended to select against heavily parasitizedmales. Consistent with parasite-mediated sexual selection, maleshad higher and more variable parasite loads than females. |
| |
Keywords: | carotenoid display cichlid fish Lake Victoria parasite-mediated sexual selection Pundamilia nyererei speciation |
本文献已被 Oxford 等数据库收录! |
|