Data from: The influence of temperature on courtship and mate choice in a wolf spider: Implications for mating success in variable environments

Selection on animal signal form often changes significantly with the
environment, yet signal form may itself be environment dependent. Little
is known about how variation in individual responses to changing
environments affects the relationship between selection and the subsequent
evolution of signal traits. To address this question, we assess the
effects of variation in temperature on individual signaling and mating
behavior responses across temperatures in the wolf spider Schizocosa
floridana. By running repeated-measures trials, we find that temperature
has predictable effects on signal form, but that the performance of
individual courters is not consistent across temperatures. Traits
associated with courtship rate generally increase at higher temperatures
but inter-individual consistency in response to temperature change is low,
despite consistent female preferences for increased courtship rate at all
temperatures. Interestingly, production of the likely most recently
evolved signal component, the chirp, is consistent within signalers and
predicts male performance across temperatures. Despite this, female
preferences for chirp duration appear only at higher temperatures. Taken
together, our results suggest that individual courter responses to
changing temperatures have the potential to dampen or eliminate patterns
of selection that are evident across temperatures. We discuss these
results in the light of current research on mating behavior and sexual
selection.