Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, University of NSW and School of BEES, University of NSW, Australia.
Evolution. 2012 Jan;66(1):280-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01421.x. Epub 2011 Sep 20.
Phenotypically plastic mating behavior may allow males to modify their reproductive behavior to suit the prevailing social conditions, but we do not know if males only react to immediate social stimuli or change their inherent mate preferences according to their social history. Here we examine the effect of social experiences on the subsequent reproductive behavior of male guppies under standard conditions, allowing us to distinguish the effect of past and immediate social conditions. Males experienced experimental conditioning periods during which they interacted with three females, either of variable size or of similar size. Females arrived either simultaneously or consecutively. In subsequent standard assays, only males that had experienced females of variable size preferentially courted large females. Further, males exposed to sequential female arrival courted subsequent females more vigorously than males that had experienced simultaneous female arrival. In contrast, males did not alter their coercive mating attempts in relation to their recent social history. These results demonstrate that males use past experiences to modify their subsequent reproductive behavior rather than reacting only to immediate stimuli, and reveal the sophisticated ways in which males alter their reproductive tactics to suit the social environment and maximize fitness across changing selective landscapes.
表型可塑性交配行为可能使雄性能够调整其繁殖行为以适应流行的社会条件，但我们不知道雄性是否仅对即时的社会刺激做出反应，或者是否根据其社会历史改变其内在的配偶偏好。在这里，我们研究了社会经验对标准条件下雄性孔雀鱼随后的繁殖行为的影响，使我们能够区分过去和即时社会条件的影响。雄性经历了实验条件期，在此期间它们与三只大小不同或相似的雌性互动。雌性要么同时到达，要么相继到达。在随后的标准测定中，只有经历过大小不同的雌性的雄性才会优先向大雌性求爱。此外，与经历过同时到达的雌性的雄性相比，暴露于连续雌性到达的雄性会更有力地向随后的雌性求爱。相比之下，雄性不会根据其最近的社会历史改变其强制性交配尝试。这些结果表明，雄性利用过去的经验来改变其随后的繁殖行为，而不仅仅是对即时刺激做出反应，并揭示了雄性改变其繁殖策略以适应社会环境并在不断变化的选择景观中最大限度地提高适应性的复杂方式。
