Females increase reproductive investment when mated to less sexually attractive males in a serially monogamous fish.

ABSTRACT: Reproductive investment decision is an integral part of life-history theory. Differential allocation hypothesis predicts that females should increase investment when mated to high-quality males, conversely, reproductive compensation hypothesis predicts that females should increase investment when mated to low-quality males. Empirical research dominantly focuses on polygamous species and rarely on serially monogamous species. So, the question remains: which hypothesis does serially monogamous species fit? And if it fits reproductive compensation hypothesis, do females only compensate once or continuously for multiple times when mating to low-quality males? Here, we used a serially monogamous fish, the lined seahorse (Hippocampus erectus), to investigate the reproductive investment pattern o

SUBMITTER: Lin T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11329643 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature