Abstract
BackgroundFemales in a wide range of taxa have been shown to base their choice of mates on pheromone signals. However, little research has focussed specifically on the form and intensity of selection that mate choice imposes on the pheromone signal. Using multivariate selection analysis, we characterise directly the form and intensity of sexual selection acting on cuticular hydrocarbons, chemical compounds widely used in the selection of mates in insects. Using the Australian field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus as a model organism, we use three measures of male attractiveness to estimate fitness; mating success, the duration of courtship required to elicit copulation, and subsequent spermatophore attachment duration.ResultsWe found that all three measures of male attractiveness generated sexual selection on male cuticular hydrocarbons, however there were differences in the form and intensity of selection among these three measures. Mating success was the only measure of attractiveness that imposed both univariate linear and quadratic selection on cuticular hydrocarbons. Although we found that all three attractiveness measures generated nonlinear selection, again only mating success was found to exert statistically significant stabilizing selection.ConclusionThis study shows that sexual selection plays an important role in the evolution of male cuticular hydrocarbon signals.
Highlights
Females in a wide range of taxa have been shown to base their choice of mates on pheromone signals
This study shows that sexual selection plays an important role in the evolution of male cuticular hydrocarbon signals
We found that all three measures of male attractiveness generated sexual selection on male cuticular hydrocarbons, there were differences in the form and intensity of selection among these three measures
Summary
Females in a wide range of taxa have been shown to base their choice of mates on pheromone signals. Using the Australian field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus as a model organism, we use three measures of male attractiveness to estimate fitness; mating success, the duration of courtship required to elicit copulation, and subsequent spermatophore attachment duration. It is common in natural populations for individuals of one sex, usually the female, to prefer certain phenotypic trait values over others in their choice of mates. Cuticular hydrocarbons are chemical compounds found on the cuticle of most terrestrial arthropods These compounds have been studied extensively for their role as signals in mate and species recognition, and ecology [7,8]. Cuticular hydrocarbons are highly sexually dimorphic in a range of species, with many of the compounds present in one sex but absent in the other, while shared compounds often differ quantitatively between the sexes [see (page number not for citation purposes)
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