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Biology
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The Role of Personality in Sexual Selection
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The Role of Personality in Sexual Selection

A special issue of Biology (ISSN 2079-7737).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 18936

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Klaudia Witte

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Group of Ecology and Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology, Department of Chemistry-Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany
Interests: sexual selection; public information; social learning; mate-choice copying
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Theodora Fuss

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Group of Ecology and Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology, Department of Chemistry-Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany
Interests: neuroethology; animal cognition; mate choice; cognitive sex differences; social learning
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ilka Maria Kureck

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Research Group of Ecology and Behavioural Biology, Institute of Biology, Department of Chemistry-Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany
Interests: sexual selection; reproductive tactics; mate-choice copying; sperm competition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Choosing a high-quality mate is one of the most important decisions in each individual´s life. Based on theories in and concepts of sexual selection, we identified different mechanisms on how and when to choose a mate, and we have convincing evidence for the fitness advantages of choosers over non-choosers. The number of identified traits under sexual selection is continuously growing, with a shift in focus from morphological to behavioural traits. One prominent behavioural trait is an individual’s personality. Based on the existing knowledge on personality in the context of mate choice, we want to focus on new aspects such as the role of personality of both the chooser and the chosen individual. We want to link personality to fitness and ask how personality is associated with cognition, and how both are relevant for mate choice. The goal of this Special Issue is to complement our knowledge on and deepen our understanding of the fascinating topic of how personality shapes sexual selection and vice versa.

We invite the submission of original scientific reports, review articles, commentary, and perspective pieces on the different aspects of the role of personality in sexual selection in different animals, invertebrates, and vertebrates.

Prof. Dr. Klaudia Witte
Dr. Theodora Fuss
Dr. Ilka Maria Kureck
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biology is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • personality
  • mate-choice
  • cognition
  • learning
  • fitness

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Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 968 KiB  
Article
Body Size, Not Personality, Explains Both Male Mating Success and Sexual Cannibalism in a Widow Spider
by Rok Golobinek, Matjaž Gregorič and Simona Kralj-Fišer
Biology 2021, 10(3), 189; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10030189 - 3 Mar 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 3811
Abstract
Theory suggests that consistent individual variation in behavior relates to fitness, but few studies have empirically examined the role of personalities in mate choice, male-male competition and reproductive success. We observed the Mediterranean black widow, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, in the individual and mating [...] Read more.
Theory suggests that consistent individual variation in behavior relates to fitness, but few studies have empirically examined the role of personalities in mate choice, male-male competition and reproductive success. We observed the Mediterranean black widow, Latrodectus tredecimguttatus, in the individual and mating context, to test how body size measures and two functionally important aggressive behaviors, i.e., male aggression towards rivals and female voracity towards prey, affect mating behaviors, mating success and sexual cannibalism. We specifically selected voracity towards prey in females to test the “aggressive spillover hypothesis”, suggesting that more voracious females are more sexually cannibalistic. Both females and males exhibit consistent individual differences in the examined aggressive behaviors. While larger males win contests more often and achieve more copulations, neither male nor female size measures correlate to aggression. Female voracity does not correlate with aggression towards mates and sexual cannibalism, rejecting the “spillover hypothesis”. However, occurrence of sexual cannibalism positively relates to longer insertion duration. Furthermore, the smaller the ratio between male and female body length the more likely a female attacked and cannibalized a mate. We show that individual variation in aggression levels plays no direct role in the mating behavior of the Mediterranean black widow. Instead, body size affects male mating success and occurrences of sexual cannibalism in females. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Personality in Sexual Selection)
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10 pages, 453 KiB  
Article
Do Females in a Unisexual-Bisexual Species Complex Differ in Their Behavioral Syndromes and Cortisol Production?
by James J. Muraco, Jr., Dillon J. Monroe, Andrea S. Aspbury and Caitlin R. Gabor
Biology 2021, 10(3), 186; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10030186 - 3 Mar 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2420
Abstract
Studies of suites of correlated behavioral traits (i.e., behavioral syndromes) aid in understanding the adaptive importance of behavioral evolution. Behavioral syndromes may be evolutionarily constrained, preventing behaviors from evolving independently, or they may be an adaptive result of selection on the correlation itself. [...] Read more.
Studies of suites of correlated behavioral traits (i.e., behavioral syndromes) aid in understanding the adaptive importance of behavioral evolution. Behavioral syndromes may be evolutionarily constrained, preventing behaviors from evolving independently, or they may be an adaptive result of selection on the correlation itself. We tested these hypotheses by characterizing the behavioral syndromes in two sympatric, closely related species and testing for differences between the species. We studied the unisexual Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa) and one of its bisexual, parent species, the sailfin molly (P. latipinna). Sympatric female sailfin and Amazon mollies compete for mating which could affect the behavioral syndromes found in each species. We identified a behavioral syndrome between exploration and activity in both species that did not differ between species. Additionally, we explored the relationship between a stress response hormone, cortisol, and behavioral type, and did not detect a relationship. However, P. formosa differed from P. latipinna in their cortisol release rates. Behavioral syndromes may be constrained in this complex, aiding in mate acquisition for P. formosa by virtue of having a similar behavioral type to P. latipinna. The difference between the females in cortisol release rates may be a useful mate identification cue for males to offset higher mating mistakes associated with the similar behavioral types. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Personality in Sexual Selection)
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13 pages, 1396 KiB  
Article
Male Sexual Preference for Female Swimming Activity in the Guppy (Poecilia reticulata)
by David Bierbach, Ronja Wenchel, Stefan Gehrig, Serafina Wersing, Olivia L. O’Connor and Jens Krause
Biology 2021, 10(2), 147; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10020147 - 12 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4808
Abstract
Mate choice that is based on behavioural traits is a common feature in the animal kingdom. Using the Trinidadian guppy, a species with mutual mate choice, we investigated whether males use female swimming activity—a behavioural trait known to differ consistently among individuals in [...] Read more.
Mate choice that is based on behavioural traits is a common feature in the animal kingdom. Using the Trinidadian guppy, a species with mutual mate choice, we investigated whether males use female swimming activity—a behavioural trait known to differ consistently among individuals in many species—as a trait relevant for their mate choice. In the first experiment, we assessed male and female activity in an open field test alone (two repeated measures) and afterwards in heterosexual pairs (two repeated measures). In these pairs, we simultaneously assessed males’ mating efforts by counting the number of sexual behaviours (courtship displays and copulations). Male and female guppies showed consistent individual differences in their swimming activity when tested both alone and in a pair, and these differences were maintained across both test situations. When controlling for male swimming behaviour and both male and female body size, males performed more courtship displays towards females with higher swimming activity. In a second experiment, we tested for a directional male preference for swimming activity by presenting males video animations of low- and high-active females in a dichotomous choice test. In congruence with experiment 1, we found males to spend significantly more time in association with the high-active female stimulus. Both experiments thus point towards a directional male preference for higher activity levels in females. We discuss the adaptive significance of this preference as activity patterns might indicate individual female quality, health or reproductive state while, mechanistically, females that are more active might be more detectable to males as well. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Personality in Sexual Selection)
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18 pages, 2534 KiB  
Article
Size Selective Harvesting Does Not Result in Reproductive Isolation among Experimental Lines of Zebrafish, Danio rerio: Implications for Managing Harvest-Induced Evolution
by Tamal Roy, Kim Fromm, Valerio Sbragaglia, David Bierbach and Robert Arlinghaus
Biology 2021, 10(2), 113; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology10020113 - 4 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3305
Abstract
Size-selective mortality is common in fish stocks. Positive size-selection happens in fisheries where larger size classes are preferentially targeted while gape-limited natural predation may cause negative size-selection for smaller size classes. As body size and correlated behavioural traits are sexually selected, harvest-induced trait [...] Read more.
Size-selective mortality is common in fish stocks. Positive size-selection happens in fisheries where larger size classes are preferentially targeted while gape-limited natural predation may cause negative size-selection for smaller size classes. As body size and correlated behavioural traits are sexually selected, harvest-induced trait changes may promote prezygotic reproductive barriers among selection lines experiencing differential size-selective mortality. To investigate this, we used three experimental lines of zebrafish (Danio rerio) exposed to positive (large-harvested), negative (small-harvested) and random (control line) size-selective mortality for five generations. We tested prezygotic preferences through choice tests and spawning trials. In the preference tests without controlling for body size, we found that females of all lines preferred males of the generally larger small-harvested line. When the body size of stimulus fish was statistically controlled, this preference disappeared and a weak evidence of line-assortative preference emerged, but only among large-harvested line fish. In subsequent spawning trials, we did not find evidence for line-assortative reproductive allocation in any of the lines. Our study suggests that size-selection due to fisheries or natural predation does not result in reproductive isolation. Gene flow between wild-populations and populations adapted to size-selected mortality may happen during secondary contact which can speed up trait recovery. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Personality in Sexual Selection)
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22 pages, 3513 KiB  
Article
Model and Data Concur and Explain the Coexistence of Two Very Distinct Animal Behavioral Types
by Jordi Moya-Laraño, Rubén Rabaneda-Bueno, Emily Morrison and Philip H. Crowley
Biology 2020, 9(9), 241; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology9090241 - 21 Aug 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3332
Abstract
Behaviors may enhance fitness in some situations while being detrimental in others. Linked behaviors (behavioral syndromes) may be central to understanding the maintenance of behavioral variability in natural populations. The spillover hypothesis of premating sexual cannibalism by females explains genetically determined female aggression [...] Read more.
Behaviors may enhance fitness in some situations while being detrimental in others. Linked behaviors (behavioral syndromes) may be central to understanding the maintenance of behavioral variability in natural populations. The spillover hypothesis of premating sexual cannibalism by females explains genetically determined female aggression towards both prey and males: growth to a larger size translates into higher fecundity, but at the risk of insufficient sperm acquisition. Here, we use an individual-based model to determine the ecological scenarios under which this spillover strategy is more likely to evolve over a strategy in which females attack approaching males only once the female has previously secured sperm. We found that a classic spillover strategy could never prevail. However, a more realistic early-spillover strategy, in which females become adults earlier in addition to reaching a larger size, could be maintained in some ecological scenarios and even invade a population of females following the other strategy. We also found under some ecological scenarios that both behavioral types coexist through frequency-dependent selection. Additionally, using data from the spider Lycosa hispanica, we provide strong support for the prediction that the two strategies may coexist in the wild. Our results clarify how animal personalities evolve and are maintained in nature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Personality in Sexual Selection)
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