Stronger convex (stabilizing) selection on homologous sexual display traits in females than in males: a multipopulation comparison in Drosophila serrata

Mutual mate choice for homologous sexual display traits has been demonstrated in Mutual mate choice for homologous sexual display traits has been demonstrated in several recent studies yet little attention has been given to quantitative comparison of the strength and form of mate preferences between the sexes. Such comparisons may provide important insight into the evolution of mate choice for honest signals. In particular, because females generally provide the majority of resources for initial offspring development, female displays may trade-off with fecundity, causing preference evolution to differ between the sexes. Recent theory suggests that adaptive male preferences for honest displays in females are possible under certain conditions and may result in preferences that are convex (i.e. stabilizing) in form. We compared sexual selection on a suite of contact pheromones arising from mutual mate choice using nine separate geographic populations of Drosophila serrata. We show that the ...

已有多项近期研究证实，同源性展示性状（homologous sexual display traits）的相互配偶选择（mutual mate choice）确实存在。但目前针对两性配偶偏好的强度与形式开展定量比较的研究仍相对不足。此类比较可为诚实信号（honest signals）相关配偶偏好的演化机制提供重要洞见。具体而言，由于雌性通常为子代早期发育提供绝大多数资源，雌性的性展示可能与其繁殖力（fecundity）存在进化权衡，进而导致两性间的配偶偏好演化路径出现分化。近期的理论研究指出，在特定条件下，雄性对雌性的诚实展示性状产生适应性配偶偏好是可行的，且此类偏好可能呈现凸性（即稳定型选择）的形式。我们以九个地理种群的斑纹翅果蝇（Drosophila serrata）为实验材料，针对相互配偶选择下的一系列接触信息素（contact pheromones）所介导的性选择展开了比较分析。研究结果显示，该……