Evol Ecol Res 9: 71-90 (2007) Full PDF if your library subscribes.
A test for the parallel co-evolution of male colour and female preference in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata)
Amy K. Schwartz* and Andrew P. Hendry
Redpath Museum and Department of Biology, McGill University, 859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal, Québec H3A 2K6, Canada
Author to whom all correspondence should be addressed.
e-mail: amy.schwartz@mail.mcgill.caABSTRACT
Question: Do male traits and female preferences co-evolve in response to divergent natural selection?
Organisms: Six Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) populations adapted to high- or low-predation environments in three separate drainages.
Methods: Measurement of colour patterns on wild-caught and lab-reared males. ‘No-choice’ mating experiments to quantify female preference functions for male traits. Comparisons of male colour and female preference functions between predation environments.
Predictions: If divergent natural selection drives parallel co-evolution, both male traits and female preferences should be similar for populations in similar environments but different for populations in different environments.
Conclusions: Male traits have broadly diverged in parallel between predation environments, leading to larger body size and increased colour in low-predation sites. Female preferences also appear to be diverging because females discriminate against colourful males in high-predation sites but not in low-predation sites. Despite this general pattern, deviations from parallel co-evolution were also present, suggesting a substantial role for other selective agents.
Keywords: adaptation, divergent selection, ecological speciation, guppy, mate choice, predation, preference function, sexual selection.
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