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Mate selection: How does she know he'll take care of the kids?
June 18, 2009Throughout the animal kingdom brilliant colors or elaborate behavioral displays serve as "advertisements" for attracting mates. But, what do the ads promise, and is there truth in advertizing? Researchers at Yale theorize that when males must provide care for the survival of their offspring, the males' signals will consistently be honest - and they may devote more of their energy to caring for their offspring than to being attractive.
The idea that males showcase their best qualities to attract females for mating isn't a new one, nor is the idea that they might be deceptive in what they are promoting. Instead, the new findings better predict the requirement for honesty in advertising as a function of the male's suitability for parenting, according to Natasha Kelly, a graduate student in ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale and lead author of the study.
Previous research suggested that, under certain circumstances, males could be dishonest about their parenting skills and still have high reproductive success. This new model, now appearing in the online version of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, examines the reliability of males' mating signals when they must care for offspring - an aspect that was missing in earlier studies.
There are many species in which males could, but do not have to, provide parental care - because females will pick up the slack. The Yale researchers focused on those species, like stickleback fish, where females cannot pick up the slack and males who do not provide care risk the survival of their offspring.
"This new work shows that when males can not escape the cost of failing to provide care, their advertisements will tend to tend to reliably indicate how much care they will provide," said senior author Suzanne Alonzo, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale.
"The qualifier in this case is where males are obligated to provide care," said Kelly. "In that case, the quiet guy in the corner might be giving the more reliable advertisement for fatherhood."
Yale University
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Women may not be so picky after all about choosing a mate
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Opposites attract -- how genetics influences humans to choose their mates
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Is love at first sight real? Geneticists offer tantalizing clues
Leave it to geneticists to answer a question that has perplexed humanity since the dawn of time: does love at first sight truly exist?
Female Plant 'Communicates' Rejection or Acceptance of Male
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If you want more babies, find a man with a deep voice
Men who have lower-pitched voices have more children than do men with high-pitched voices, researchers have found. And their study suggests that for reproductive-minded women, mate selection favours men with low-pitched voices.
The price of vanity: Mating with showy males may reduce offspring's ability to fight off pathogens
In many animals, males advertise to potential mates with showy traits, many of which are linked to testosterone levels. However, a new study suggests that, in fish, choosing a flashier mate may cause future generations to be more susceptible to pathogens.
Vanishing beetle horns have surprise function
The function of horned beetles' wild protrusions has been a matter of some consternation for biologists. Digging seemed plausible; combat and mate selection, more likely. Even Charles Darwin once weighed in on the matter, suggesting - one imagines with some frustration - the horns were merely ornamental.
'Thirst for knowledge' may be opium craving
Neuroscientists have proposed a simple explanation for the pleasure of grasping a new concept: The brain is getting its fix.
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