Qvarnström A, Pärt T, Sheldon B C
Department of Animal Ecology, Evolutionary Biology Centre, Uppsala University, Sweden.
Nature. 2000 May 18;405(6784):344-7. doi: 10.1038/35012605.
There is abundant evidence for the existence of marked mate preferences in natural populations, but the occurrence of within-population variation in mate preferences has received little attention and is often regarded as nonadaptive deviation from the optimal norm. Here we show experimentally that the preference of female collared flycatchers Ficedula albicollis for male forehead patch size, a sexually selected trait, varies with the time of breeding, an environmental factor with strong effects on reproductive success. Contrary to expectations based on time-constrained choice models, only late-breeding females prefer males with a large patch size. The variation in mate preference matches a seasonal change in female reproductive success: long-term data reveal a positive relationship between female reproductive success and male patch size exclusively in late breeders. In addition, female reproductive effort, as assessed by clutch size, appears to be adjusted relative to both timing of breeding and male phenotype. We conclude that not only can mate preferences display adaptive plasticity within populations, but this plasticity can also be linked to differences in reproductive investment.
有充分证据表明自然种群中存在明显的配偶偏好，但种群内配偶偏好的变化却很少受到关注，且常被视为偏离最优规范的非适应性偏差。在此，我们通过实验表明，雌性白领姬鹟（Ficedula albicollis）对雄性前额斑块大小（一种性选择特征）的偏好会随繁殖时间而变化，繁殖时间是一个对繁殖成功率有强烈影响的环境因素。与基于时间限制选择模型的预期相反，只有晚育雌性更喜欢斑块大的雄性。配偶偏好的变化与雌性繁殖成功率的季节性变化相匹配：长期数据显示，仅在晚育者中，雌性繁殖成功率与雄性斑块大小呈正相关。此外，通过窝卵数评估的雌性繁殖投入似乎会根据繁殖时间和雄性表型进行调整。我们得出结论，不仅配偶偏好在种群内可表现出适应性可塑性，而且这种可塑性还可能与繁殖投资的差异有关。
