Search results for "Choice"
showing 10 items of 795 documents
Responses of Male and Female Black Grouse to Male Vocal Display
2010
The evolution of leks may be explained by several hypotheses. The ‘female preference’ hypothesis, which states that females favour males that have aggregated, has recently gained some empirical support. Low-quality, unattractive males may, however, settle near attractive males, as predicted by the ‘hotshot’ hypothesis. We tested whether black grouse Tetrao tetrix females use auditory cues to find the preferred leks, and whether males respond to vocal display emitted on leks. We conducted a playback experiment with male vocal display (rookooing) on leks, where the visiting females and displaying males were counted. The number of males tended to increase more on playback leks. Specifically, t…
Aroma perception in dairy products: the roles of texture, aroma release and consumer physiology. A review
2011
Aroma perception is a determinant factor in food choices and acceptability by consumers. To be perceived, aroma compounds must be released in the mouth during food breakdown, transferred into the nasal cavity to reach the olfactory receptor and then be perceived. So, in order to control aroma perception, knowledge of the main factors that can influence in-mouth aroma release is of major importance. Focusing on dairy products, this review article investigates the factors due to: (i) food products, and mainly the influence of food composition and structure on aroma retention and release; (ii) the inter-individual variability of subjects, mainly chewing behaviour, saliva rate and composition a…
Can female preference explain sexual dichromatism in the pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca?
1990
How important female choice is for the evolution of male secondary sexual characteristics is controversial. Two field and one laboratory experiment, using the pied flycatcher, were performed to test the female choice aspect of sexual selection. In addition, non-manipulative data from 5 years are presented. The observational data suggest a slight preference for dark males by females but in field experiments in which males had territories at random sites (i.e. they did not choose a territory) or the colour of concurrently arriving males was altered, there was no preference for darker ones. Similarly, oestradiol-treated females did not prefer black or brown males in the laboratory. Thus, there…
Female bank voles ( Clethrionomys glareolus ) prefer dominant males; but what if there is no choice?
1996
Both intra-sexual competition between males and female mate choice have been found to affect mating behaviour in rodents. We studied female choice in the bank vole (Clethrionomys glareolus) under circumstances where male-male competition was excluded and the female could interact and mate freely with the males. Mating behaviour was observed in two situations: (1) the female encountered two males with a clear dominance relationship; and (2) the two males were equal in their social status. In all tests where a female in postpartum oestrus had a choice between males of different social rank she mated with the dominant one. When choosing between an even pair of males there was no difference in …
Determinants of the Mating Success of Polyterritorial Pied Flycatcher Males
2010
Much attention has been paid to the polyterritorial mating system of some passerine birds. Here we report how a male's mating success is related to the behavioral traits of polyterritorial pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) males. We found no evidence that the timing of polyterritoriality in relation to egg laying in the primary nest or the singing behavior of males have any influence on mating success. However, results show clearly that male mating success was improved with an increase in the distance between territories up to a distance of about 200–300 m whereupon there was no further enhancement of mating success. This finding is crucial for both the deception hypothesis and female-fe…
Restrictive mate choice criteria cause age-specific inbreeding in female black grouse, Tetrao tetrix
2012
Inbreeding is generally rare in large, natural populations yet mate choice often appears to be random with respect to kinship. This suggests that the risks of inbreeding may be small because passive mechanisms of inbreeding avoidance, for example dispersal, are effective at lowering inbreeding risk. Previous theoretical and empirical studies have assumed that the risks of inbreeding are constant over an individual’s life span, but in the lek-breeding black grouse, inbreeding increases with female age. To determine whether inbreeding avoidance mechanisms are also age dependent, we generated four null models of random mate choice ranging from complete randomness to more biologically realistic…
Fluctuating asymmetry and copulation success in lekking black grouse
1997
Abstract In lekking black grouse, Tetrao tetrix males at the centre of the leks obtain more copulations than males at the edges. We found that males with territories at the edge of the lek obtained fewer matings and also have the most asymmetric tarsi. However, when considering the tail ornament (the lyre) no correlation between asymmetry and mating success was found. Although females are unlikely to select males on the basis of tarsus symmetry, asymmetry in this trait may reflect male condition. We suggest that males in poor condition, as reflected by higher levels of fluctuating asymmetry in the tarsi, do not achieve central positions on the lek arena. This would account for the lower suc…
A test of male mating and hunting success in the kestrel: the advantages of smallness?
1996
We tested female choice for male wing and tarsus length and body mass in the kestrel (Falco tinnunculus), a species in which males average about 10% smaller than females. We also studied how male characters are related to their hunting success. In the laboratory, females preferred lighter males with shorter tarsi as mates, if the difference in those characters between competing males was larger than average. Lighter and shorter-winged males seemed to be better hunters than heavier and longer-winged males. Field observations in a year in which voles were scarce suggested that shorter-winged males were also better food providers in courtship feeding than longer-winged males,although in good v…
Female choice for male drumming in the wolf spiderHygrolycosa rubrofasciata
1997
Mate preferences in invertebrates have usually been studied with simultaneous choice exper- iments alone, which allows eVective detection of any preferences but does not tell much about the strength of inter-sexual selection. Under natural conditions females frequently have to rely on sequential choice, and choosy females may incur opportunity and direct costs such as loss of time when they reject a male. Female preference in the wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata for two components of male courtship signalling, rate and volume, was investigated. Both of these characteristics were tested with a sequential choice set-up and the eVect of volume also with a simultaneous choice method. Femal…