The effect of experience on mate choice in the Trinidad guppy,Poecilia reticulata

Abstract

Two experients were conducted to determine the effect of male color phenotype present during development on the mate choice of adult female guppies. Females were raised with either a colorful male, non-colorful male, or no male, and then measured for choice of a colorful or non-colorful male in a two-stimulus visual choice test. In the first experiment, adult females were measured for choice between the same male phenotypes used during the developmental exposure. Females raised with colorful males had significantly higher choice scores for colorful males than did females raised with non-colorful males or with no male. In the second experiment, an effect of developmental experience was observed when adult females were tested for choice with a general range of colorful and non-colorful males. However, this effect of experience during development was not detected when females were tested for choice between the same male phenotypes used during the developmental exposure. The predation regime of the source population, either high or low, showed no consistent effect on average female choice or on whether developmental experience changed female mate choice. Overall, these experiments show that experience with male phenotypes can affect the mate choice of adult guppies, but this effect was not observed under all developmental treatments or test conditions. Such an effect could significantly change the dynamics of the evolution of female preference due to sexual selection in the guppy.