Search results for "Mating"

Female Attraction Behaviour of Radio Tagged Polyterritorial Pied Flycatcher Males

1993

AbstractPolygynous mating is costly for pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) females. Thus, females have a good reason to attempt to avoid mating with already mated polyterritorial males. One cue to disclose a male's mating status is his behaviour. The behaviour of polyterritorial and unmated males was studied by radio tagging that allows accurate recording of male movements. While attracting a secondary female polyterritorial males spent significantly less time on the secondary territory than did unmated males on their single territory. Polyterritorial males also tended to have lower song rates. When a female appeared on the secondary territory of polyterritorial males, they increased the …

Agonistic and sociable behaviors in the mound-building mice,Mus spicilegus: A comparative study withMus musculus domesticus

2001

Present social organization and mating systems result from selective pressures and ecological conditions but also from proximate interactions between individuals. Many studies report on a polygynous mating system with a social group territoriality in commensal populations of Mus musculus domesticus. However, little is known about the social organization of other Mus species living in outdoor conditions, such as the mound-building mouse Mus spicilegus. Comparative studies between M. m. domesticus and M. spicilegus have already shown behavioral differences in female sexual preferences and paternal care. To study agonistic and sociable interactions and gain insight into the social organization…

Female choice in the kestrel under different availability of mating options

1992

Abstract Mate choice in relation to its fitness consequences on females was studied in kestrels, Falco tinnunculus , in western Finland. The breeding season is short with rapidly declining prospects of successful breeding, suggesting that females should make their mating decision quickly. On average, males arrived a few days before females, but late males arrived much later than early females. Pairs were usually formed within 2 days of male arrival, and only early males were available to early females. Options for female choice differed considerably in years of different kestrel density. In a good vole year, 1988, females had many males to choose from, but in poor vole years, 1989 and 1990,…

Discarding the mirror : the importance of intangible social resources to responsibility in business in a Finnish context

2010

A mate to die for? A model of conditional monogyny in cannibalistic spiders.

2012

Monogynous males in various species actively limit themselves to mating with a single female in their lifetime. Whereas previous models have considered monogyny as an obligate mating strategy, here we explore the potential of monogyny to evolve as a context-specific (conditional) behavior. Using a state-dependent dynamic game model based on the biology of the cannibalistic spider Argiope bruennichi, we confirm that conditional monogyny can evolve under broad conditions, including an even sex ratio. We predict that males should make a terminal investment when mating with large, virgin females, especially if population density is low and the encounter occurs late in the season. We encourage e…

A mate to die for? A model of conditional monogyny in cannibalistic spiders

2012

Monogynous males in various species actively limit themselves to mating with a single female in their lifetime. Whereas previous models have considered monogyny as an obligate mating strategy, here we explore the potential of monogyny to evolve as a context-specific (conditional) behavior. Using a state-dependent dynamic game model based on the biology of the cannibalistic spider Argiope bruennichi, we confirm that conditional monogyny can evolve under broad conditions, including an even sex ratio. We predict that males should make a terminal investment when mating with large, virgin females, especially if population density is low and the encounter occurs late in the season. We encourage e…

Inbreeding depression in perennial Lychnis viscaria (Caryophyllaceae): effects of population mating history and nutrient availability.

2005

We studied inbreeding depression in a perennial plant, Lychnis viscaria, in three populations differing in their inbreeding history and population size by measuring several traits at two nutrient levels over the plant's life cycle. The observed levels of inbreeding depression (cumulative inbreeding depression, from -0.057 to 0.629) were high for a plant with a mixed mating system. As expected, the population with a low level of isozyme variation expressed the least inbreeding depression for seed germination. Highest inbreeding depression for germination was found in the largest and genetically most variable population. No clear differences between populations in expression of inbreeding dep…

Mate‐Search Efficiency Can Determine the Evolution of Separate Sexes and the Stability of Hermaphroditism in Animals

2002

Limited availability of mating partners has been proposed as an explanation for the occurrence of simultaneous hermaphroditism in animals with pair mating. When low population density or low mobility of a species limits the number of potential mates, simultaneous hermaphrodites may have a selective advantage because, first, they are able to adjust the allocation of resources between male and female functions in order to maximize fitness; second, in a hermaphroditic population the likelihood of meeting a partner is higher because all individuals are potential mates; and, third, in the absence of mating partners, many simultaneously hermaphroditic animals have the option of reproducing throug…

Operational sex ratio and resource defence as predictors of the mating system in European bitterling

2003

Operational sex ratio (OSR), the ratio of sexually active males to fertilizable females in a population, plays a central role in the theory of mating systems by predicting that the intensity of male–male competition and the degree of sexual selection increases as the OSR becomes increasingly male biased. At high values of OSR, however, resource defence theory predicts the breakdown of territoriality and a shift towards scramble competition with a decrease in sexual selection. The direction that correlations between OSR and resource competition and variance in mating success will take depends on the biology of the species of interest. We investigated the effects of male population density an…

Experimental assessment of the fecundity of Eucypris virens (Ostracoda, Crustacea) under natural sex ratios

2007

Summary 1. The adaptive significance of the observed variations in sex ratios in non-marine ostracods is unclear. This study quantified the fecundity of females taken from a presumed fully sexual Eucypris virens population that were experimentally combined with different proportions of males (male : female sex ratios: 1 : 1, 1 : 2, 1 : 4, 1 : 8 and 0 : 1). 2. The results yielded no indications that female fecundity is altered by short-term variations in the proportion of males, at least not within the range of sex ratios that are common in natural ostracod populations. Complete removal of males, however, did strongly reduce hatching success of dried eggs. This suggests the need for multiple…