Preference For Dominant Males Research Articles

Impaired sperm quality, delayed mating but no costs for offspring fitness in crickets winning a fight.

The outcome of male-male contest competition is known to affect male mating success and is believed to confer fitness benefits to females through preference for dominant males. However, by mating with contest winners, females can incur significant costs spanning from decreased fecundity to negative effects on offspring. Hence, identifying costs and benefits of male dominance on female fitness is crucial to unravel the potential for a conflict of interests between the sexes. Here, we investigated males' pre- and post-copulatory reproductive investment and its effect on female fitness after a single contest a using the field cricket Gryllus bimaculatus. We allowed males to fight and immediately measured their mating behaviour, sperm quality and offspring viability. We found that males experiencing a fight, independently of the outcome, delayed matings, but their courtship effort was not affected. However, winners produced sperm of lower quality (viability) compared to losers and to males that did not experience fighting. Results suggest a trade-off in resource allocation between pre- and post-mating episodes of sexual selection. Despite lower ejaculate quality, we found no fitness costs (fecundity and viability of offspring) for females mated to winners. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of considering fighting ability when assessing male reproductive success, as winners may be impaired in their competitiveness at a post-mating level.

Reduced mate preference for dominant over subordinate males in old female Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus)

Why some females choose to mate with a ‘preferred’ male, whereas others choose to mate with an ‘inferior’ male is not always clear. Generally, the choosiness of females is thought to decline with advanced age, but relatively few studies have investigated this concept, and reports of this phenomenon in mammals are lacking. To address this deficiency, young and old female golden hamsters were evaluated for their preference for dominant vs. subordinate males. Females observed male dyads as a dominance relationship was established. Dominant and subordinate males were then placed within enclosures at the opposite ends of a Y-maze, and the first approach, scent marking, and time spent near each male were evaluated in young and old females during pro-oestrus—a time when females solicit visits by prospective mates by leaving vaginal and flank scent marks. Whereas the proportion of time spent near the dominant male was significantly greater than random for both young and old females, the proportions of vaginal and flank scent marks left for the dominant male were significantly greater than random for young females, but not for old females. Overall, these results are consistent with a decline in the preference for dominant males by old female hamsters.

Free choice by female sticklebacks: lack of preference for male dominance traits

To experimentally assess if a male sexual trait has an influence on female choice and (or) male-male competition, it is essential to separate these two evolutionary forces. Female choice may be obscured by the overriding influence of male-male competition, and it may therefore appear that female interests coincide with male dominance. We approached this problem using the threespine stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus, by leashing the males, allowing the female to fully interact and mate with each male, while physical interactions between the males were prevented. Our results show that in this situation, females display no preference for dominant males and no, or only a weak, preference for more colorful males. When the males could interact freely with each other, females "chose" the dominant and the more colorful males, but in this case the dominant male always deprived the female of the opportunity to interact with the subordinate male. When the females were separated physically from the males by glass walls, they demonstrated a preference for males with the most intense red color. This suggests that if females are given only a limited number of cues on which to base their choice (by introducing glass walls), they are attracted to the redness of the males, while in a situation involving free physical and sensory interaction, other factors become more important for females' choice if they have the possibility to make a free choice in the absence of forceful male-male interactions.

Female Preferences Based on Male Quality in House Mice: Interaction between Male Dominance Rank and t‐Complex Genotype

AbstractConsiderable evidence indicates that female house mice (Mus domesticus) prefer dominant over subordinate males as mates. In addition, male genotype at the t‐complex seems to be an important characteristic used by females in mate choice. Specifically, female mice that carry a t‐haplotype at the t‐complex prefer +/+ over +/t males as mates. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relative contributions of male dominance rank and male t‐complex genotype to female mating preference when both factors were systematically varied.We tested females of three genotypes (+/+, +/t, and t/t) in a preference apparatus using pairs of stimulus males varying in relative dominance status and t‐complex genotype. In general, when given the choice, females preferred dominant over subordinate males regardless of the male's t‐complex genotype. The preference for dominant males was manifested when both stimulus males were of the same t‐complex genotype but differed in dominance rank. In addition, when forced to choose between a dominant +/+ and subordinate +/t or between a dominant +/t and subordinate +/+, females continued to prefer the dominant male. Preference for dominant males was independent of female genotype. Only when both males were dominant but differed in t‐complex genotype (i.e. one male was +/+ and the other +/t) or when males were unranked (i.e. had not been used in aggressive encounters to determine dominance rank) did females carrying t‐haplotypes manifest preferences for +/+ males. Quite unexpectedly, when both males were subordinate but differed in t‐complex genotype, preferences of all females shifted in the direction of the +/t male.It is not clear from present data whether the propensity of females to give greater weight to male dominance rank than to t‐complex genotype in choosing mates results in greater fitness. However, if these trends are found in natural populations, it would indicate that the role of mating preference in regulating the frequency of t‐haplotypes in wild populations is less straightforward than had been previously thought.

Differential attraction of females to dominant males: Olfactory discrimination and mating preference in the brown lemming (Lemmus trimucronatus)

This study investigated differential attraction of estrous brown lemmings (Lemmus trimucronatus) to conspecific males recently exposed to each other for a 10-min agonistic encounter. In tests conducted 5 min, 1 h and 24 h after agonistic encounters, females preferred the oder of dominant males to that of defeated males when both odors were presented simultaneously in a Y-maze olfactometer. Defeat in an agonistic encounter did not reduce the propensity of male lemmings to initiate sexual behavior. In one-male, one-female tests conducted 5 min after agonistic encounters, dominant males achieved higher mount and thrust scores while defeated males obtained higher scores for attempted mounts. The sexual behavior of dominant and defeated males did not differ significantly in similar tests conducted 1 h and 24 h later. In contrast, females readily mated with dominant males and tended to avoid defeated males in two-male tethering tests conducted 5 min after agonistic encounters. In these tests, females still showed a preference for dominant males 1 h and 24 h after male agonistic encounters.