Vinnedge B, Verrell P
Department of Environmental Science/Regional Planning
Anim Behav. 1998 Aug;56(2):443-448. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1998.0776.
An important function of the courtship displays of male animals is to stimulate, or 'persuade', females to mate. While many studies of courtship success have shown that females choose stimulating males as partners, fewer have demonstrated that the most persuasive males in a population also enjoy the highest mating success (i.e. mate with the greatest numbers of partners). Such a relationship provides a stronger test of the hypothesis that male displays evolve by sexual selection via female choice. We tested this hypothesis in the laboratory using the North American plethodontid salamander, Desmognathus ocoee, in which females only elicit spermatophore deposition if rendered sexually responsive by male courtship. First, we determined variance among individual males in the numbers of females with which they mated across 35 encounters, in the absence of differences in partner encounter rates and direct intermale interactions. Second, we demonstrated that males with high 'historical' scores of mating success performed significantly higher frequencies of persuasive courtship displays, which provide tactile, chemical and visual stimulation to females. We conclude that sexual selection via female choice favours persuasive displays because they confer high mating success on the males that perform them at the highest frequencies. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
雄性动物求偶展示的一个重要功能是刺激或“说服”雌性进行交配。虽然许多关于求偶成功的研究表明，雌性会选择能刺激它们的雄性作为伴侣，但较少有研究表明，群体中最具说服力的雄性也享有最高的交配成功率（即与最多的伴侣交配）。这种关系为雄性展示通过雌性选择的性选择而进化这一假设提供了更有力的检验。我们在实验室中使用北美无肺螈科蝾螈奥科伊钝口螈来检验这一假设，在这种蝾螈中，只有当雌性被雄性求偶激发起性反应时，它们才会促使雄性排出精包。首先，在不存在伴侣相遇率差异和雄性间直接互动差异的情况下，我们确定了35次相遇中各个雄性与雌性交配的数量差异。其次，我们证明，具有高“历史”交配成功率的雄性进行有说服力的求偶展示的频率显著更高，这些展示能为雌性提供触觉、化学和视觉刺激。我们得出结论，通过雌性选择的性选择有利于有说服力的展示，因为它们能让以最高频率进行展示的雄性获得高交配成功率。版权所有1998动物行为研究协会。
