TY - JOUR
T1 - Temporal and spatial variation in female mating preferences in a fiddler crab
AU - Clark, H. L.
AU - Backwell, P. R.Y.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2015/11/1
Y1 - 2015/11/1
N2 - Female mating preferences can vary temporally, with females choosing different males at different times; and spatially, with females in different populations preferring different males. This level of complexity is now well established, but we know of no evidence for a mosaic of female preferences within a single population. Here we show that, in the banana fiddler crab, Uca mjoebergi, female preferences vary both temporally and spatially. Females living in the high inter-tidal zone changed their mating preference for male size over the duration of the 9-day mating period every semi-lunar cycle: early mating females selected larger males with cooler burrows, slowing embryonic development; those mating later, selected smaller males with warmer burrows, accelerating development. Females living lower in the inter-tidal zone, however, did not show this temporal variation: they select the same sized males throughout the mating period. It is only in the high inter-tidal zone, at the start of the fortnightly mating period, that large size confers a mating advantage to males.
AB - Female mating preferences can vary temporally, with females choosing different males at different times; and spatially, with females in different populations preferring different males. This level of complexity is now well established, but we know of no evidence for a mosaic of female preferences within a single population. Here we show that, in the banana fiddler crab, Uca mjoebergi, female preferences vary both temporally and spatially. Females living in the high inter-tidal zone changed their mating preference for male size over the duration of the 9-day mating period every semi-lunar cycle: early mating females selected larger males with cooler burrows, slowing embryonic development; those mating later, selected smaller males with warmer burrows, accelerating development. Females living lower in the inter-tidal zone, however, did not show this temporal variation: they select the same sized males throughout the mating period. It is only in the high inter-tidal zone, at the start of the fortnightly mating period, that large size confers a mating advantage to males.
KW - Adaptive shifts
KW - Mate choice
KW - Mating preference
KW - Reproductive timing
KW - Uca
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943200726&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00265-015-1990-1
DO - 10.1007/s00265-015-1990-1
M3 - Article
SN - 0340-5443
VL - 69
SP - 1779
EP - 1784
JO - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
JF - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
IS - 11
ER -