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QUANTITATIVE GENETICS OF FEMALE MATE PREFERENCES IN AN ANCESTRAL AND A NOVEL ENVIRONMENT
Author(s) -
Delcourt Matthieu,
Blows Mark W.,
Rundle Howard D.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01031.x
Subject(s) - biology , preference , population , mate choice , evolutionary biology , quantitative genetics , genetic variation , mating preferences , mating , genetics , statistics , demography , mathematics , sociology , gene
A female's mate preference is a potentially complex function relating variation in multiple male phenotypes with her probability of accepting individual males as a mate. Estimating the quantitative genetic basis preference functions within a population is empirically challenging yet key to understanding preference evolution. We employed a recently described approach that uses random‐coefficient mixed models in the analysis of function‐valued traits. Using a half‐sibling breeding design in a laboratory‐adapted Drosophila serrata population, we estimated the genetic (co)variance function of female preference for male sexual displays composed of nine contact pheromones. The breeding design was performed across two environments: the food to which the population was well adapted and a novel food that reduced average female productivity by 35%. Significant genetic variance in female preference was detected and the majority (64.2%) was attributable to a single genetic dimension (eigenfunction), suggesting that preferences for different pheromones are not genetically independent. The second eigenfunction, accounting for 24% of the total genetic variance, approached significance in a conservative test, suggesting the existence of a second, independent genetic dimension. There was no evidence that the genetic basis of female preference differed between the two environments, suggesting the absence of genotype‐by‐environment interactions and hence a lack of condition‐dependent preference expression.