Can female guppies learn to like male colours? A test of the role of associative learning in originating sexual preferences.

ABSTRACT: How do female sexual preferences for male ornamental traits arise? The developmental origins of female preferences are still an understudied area, with most explanations pointing to genetic mechanisms. One intriguing, little-explored, alternative focuses on the role of associative learning in driving this process. According to this hypothesis, a preference learned in an ecological context can be transferred into a sexual context, resulting in changes in mating preferences as a by-product. I tested this hypothesis by first training female guppies to associate either orange or black colour with food delivery; I then presented videos of males with computer-manipulated coloured spots and measured female preference towards them. I also allowed females from both treatments to mate with males dif

SUBMITTER: Herdegen-Radwan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8984809 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature