10.5061/DRYAD.MCVDNCK25
Frommen, Joachim G.
0000-0002-1752-6944
Manchester Metropolitan University
Thuenken, Timo
University of Bonn
Santostefano, Francesca
University of Quebec at Montreal
Balzarini, Valentina
University of Bern
Hettyey, Attila
Eötvös Loránd University
Effects of chronic and acute predation risk on sexual ornamentation and
mating preferences
Dryad
dataset
2021
three-spined stickleback
Gasterosteus aculeatus
breeding colouration
2022-01-16T00:00:00Z
2022-01-16T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arab116
75236 bytes
6
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Phenotypic plasticity is wide-spread in animals, but how plastic responses
to predation threat affect traits under sexual selection and influence
mating preferences is not well understood. Here, we examined how chronic
predation risk during development and acute predation risk during mate
choice affect the expression of male secondary sexual traits and female
mating preference in the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus.
Males reared under chronic predation risk developed less intense red
breeding colouration but showed higher courtship activity than males that
grew up in a predator-free environment. Acute predation risk during mate
choice did not influence male behaviour or ornamentation. Predation risk
experienced during development did not affect female mating preferences,
while acute predator presence induced a switch in preferences for male
courtship activity. Male body size and eye colouration influenced the
intensity of female mating preferences, while the trait changing most in
response to predation risk during development (red colouration) had no
significant impact. The observed interplay between developmental
plasticity in male ornamental traits and environment-dependent female
mating preferences may lead to dynamic processes altering the strength and
direction of sexual selection depending on both the chronic and acute risk
of predation. These processes may contribute to the maintenance of within-
and among-population variation in secondary sexual traits, and may,
ultimately, facilitate speciation.