Sexual and non-sexual social preferences in male and female white-eyed bulbuls.

ABSTRACT: While the function of ornaments shaped by sexual selection is to attract mates or drive off rivals, these signals may also evolve through social selection, in which the social context affects the fitness of signallers and receivers. Classical 'mate choice' experiments often reveal preferences for ornaments, but few studies have considered whether these are strictly sexual or reflect general social preferences. Indeed, an alternative possibility is that ornaments evolve through 'non-sexual social selection' (hereafter 'social selection'). We examined the role of ornamentation (yellow ventral patch) and familiarity (individuals recognize group mates with which they have had previous interactions) on mate choice (opposite-sex stimuli preference) and social choice (same-sex stimuli preference)

SUBMITTER: Kabasakal B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5517633 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature