Female mate preferences for male body size and shape promote sexual isolation in threespine sticklebacks.

ABSTRACT: Female mate preferences for ecologically relevant traits may enhance natural selection, leading to rapid divergence. They may also forge a link between mate choice within species and sexual isolation between species. Here, we examine female mate preference for two ecologically important traits: body size and body shape. We measured female preferences within and between species of benthic, limnetic, and anadromous threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus species complex). We found that mate preferences differed between species and between contexts (i.e., within vs. between species). Within species, anadromous females preferred males that were deep bodied for their size, benthic females preferred larger males (as measured by centroid size), and limnetic females preferred males that we

SUBMITTER: Head ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3728956 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature