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No evidence of an MHC‐based female mating preference in great reed warblers
Author(s) -
WESTERDAHL HELENA
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-294x.2004.02238.x
Subject(s) - biology , mating preferences , mate choice , major histocompatibility complex , allele , offspring , genetics , population , sexual selection , evolutionary biology , inbreeding , loss of heterozygosity , mating , zoology , gene , demography , pregnancy , sociology
Female mate‐choice based on genetic compatibility is an area of growing interest. The major histocompatibility complex ( MHC ) genes are likely candidates for such mate‐choice since these highly polymorphic genes may both increase offspring viability and also provide direct cues for mate‐choice. In great reed warblers, females actively choose a breeding partner out of a handful of males that they visit and evaluate; thus, female preference for compatible or heterozygous MHC genes could have evolved. Here, I investigate whether great reed warbler females preferentially mate with males with dissimilar MHC class I alleles or with males that are heterozygous at MHC class I. Despite favourable conditions, a thorough screening method and a large sample size, there was no evidence of an MHC‐based female mating preference based on either genetic compatibility or heterozygosity in this population. Power analyses of the data sets revealed that relatively small differences (15% and 8%, respectively) between true and random pairs should have been detected.