The effect of individual state on the strength of mate choice in females and males

Animals are thought to gain significant fitness benefits from choosing high-quality or compatible mates. However, there is a large within-species variation in how choosy individuals are during mating. This may be because the costs and benefits of being choosy vary according to an individual’s state. To test this, I systematically searched for published data relating the strength of animal mate choice in both sexes to individual age, attractiveness, body size, physical condition, mating status, and parasite load. I performed a meta-analysis of 108 studies and 78 animal species to quantify how the strength of mate choice varies according to individual state. In line with the predictions of sexual selection theory, I find that females are significantly choosier when they are large and have a low parasite load, thus supporting the premise that the expression of female mate choice is dependent on the costs and benefits of being choosy. However, the female choice was not influenced by female ..., , , # The effect of individual state on the strength of mate choice in females and males

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2bs](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.59zw3r2bs)

## Description of the data and file structure

I performed a meta-analysis of 108 studies and 78 animal species to quantify how the strength of mate choice varies according to individual state.

Studies were identified from an earlier systematic literature search produced by: \"Dougherty (2021) Meta-analysis shows the evidence for context-dependent mating behaviour is inconsistent or weak across animals. Ecol Lett. 24: 862– 875.\" I then extracted data comparing mate chouce in relation to one of six state factors: age, attractiveness, body size, physical condition, mating status, and parasite load.

### Files and variables

#### File: choosy\_tree\_edited.tre

**Description:** supertree showing the phylogenetic relationships between the species in the data set.

#### File: Dougherty\_\_2022\_All\_data.xlsx

**Description:...,