Abstract
Social learning about mate choices is taxonomically widespread, and is a potentially important mechanism of social evolution that may affect the strength of sexual selection in a population. We used a meta-analytic approach to estimate the effect of mate-choice copying on reproductive decisions. We evaluated effect sizes across 103 experiments from 40 studies that experimentally measured female mate-choice copying in non-human animals representing Arachnida, Insecta, Malacostraca, Aves, and Actinoperygii. Our goals were to quantify the magnitude of the effect of this form of social influence, and the extent to which it is modified by observer experience, model age relative to the observer, attractiveness of prospective mates, and testing conditions (laboratory vs. free-living). Across all studies, females that observed others choosing a male were on average 2.71 times more likely to mate with that male, or with a phenotypically similar individual, compared to females with no social information (odds ratio 95% credible interval: 1.60-4.80). After corrected for publication bias, this effect remained significant (corrected odds ratio: 1.92, 95% credible interval 1.13-3.40). We found little evidence for phylogenetic effects in the occurrence of mate-choice copying. Indeed, some studies herein found evidence for mate-choice copying in a broad cross-section of species, while others rejected it in their sister taxa. Social information from observed mate choices of others had a considerably stronger effect on mate-choice in free-living subjects than in captive individuals. Inexperienced (virgin) females were more likely to copy mate choices than were experienced females, but the relative age of the model was unrelated to whether copying occurred. Finally, females were more likely to copy the mate choices of others when social information counteracted the observing female’s personal or genetic mating preference. We note the need for increased taxonomic representation in tests of mate-choice copying, given the robust demonstration of effects in taxa studied to date. Such broader information will provide additional insight to the drivers of the differences identified here in tendency to copy mate choices of others.
Highlights
One of the major benefits of living in social groups is access to information
Our meta-analysis indicated that female mate-choice copying is a widespread and influential phenomenon
We found that mate-choice copying was more likely to occur when the females receiving social information lacked mating experience, or when they received new information about males that were initially “unattractive.” we found no consistent support for the idea that observer females preferentially attend to the mating decisions of older females
Summary
One of the major benefits of living in social groups is access to information. Individuals can employ social information to recognize appropriate habitats, food items, and mates, thereby navigating some of the most important decisions facing an animal (Galef and Giraldeau, 2001; Danchin et al, 2004). Female mate-choice copying is a type of social learning that occurs when a female’s likelihood of mating with a male is influenced by the apparent choices of other females. Consideration of this phenomenon suggested copying may be a factor in the high reproductive skew among lekking male sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; Wiley, 1973) and white-bearded manakins (Manacus manacus; Lill, 1974), but the occurrence of mate-choice copying was first demonstrated experimentally in a captive population of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata; Dugatkin, 1992). Given the apparent prevalence and importance of matechoice copying, we aimed to assess the magnitude of its effects as well as the factors that influence this phenomenon
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