Mate quality and the temporal dynamics of breeding in a sex-role-reversed pipefish, S. typhle

The spatiotemporal dynamics of receptivity and breeding date, coupled with individual-level quality and attractiveness, are centrally important to mating system dynamics. These topics have been investigated in some detail in birds, but much less work has been devoted to other taxonomic groups, and almost no work has addressed spatiotemporal factors and individual quality in sex-role-reversed taxa. The broad-nosed pipefish, Syngnathus typhle, provides an excellent opportunity to investigate these ideas in a sex-role-reversed fish. Here, we addressed three questions related to mating dynamics in S. typhle: (1) Do higher-quality males arrive earlier on the breeding grounds and mate first? (2) Are early-breeding males in better condition than later-breeding males? And (3) do mating events involving higher-quality males produce better clutches than mating events involving lower-quality males? We collected data from a field study and a laboratory breeding experiment to address our hypotheses....