Habitat Choice and Female Preference in a Polymorphic Stickleback Population

Feller, Anna Fiona; Seehausen, Ole; Lucek, Kay Jurka Olaf; Marques, David Alexander (2016). Habitat Choice and Female Preference in a Polymorphic Stickleback Population (In Press). Evolutionary ecology research Evolutionary Ecology

Preview	Text Feller et al. 2016_EER_Habitat choice and female preference in a polymorphic stickleback population.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (3MB) | Preview
Preview	Text Feller_2016_EER_habitat choice and female preference in a polymorphic st....pdf - Published Version Available under License Publisher holds Copyright. Download (389kB) | Preview

Background: A small pond, c. 90 years old, near Bern, Switzerland contains a population of threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) with two distinct male phenotypes. Males of one type are large, and red, and nest in the shallow littoral zone. The males of
the other are small and orange, and nest offshore at slightly greater depth. The females in this population are phenotypically highly variable but cannot easily be assigned to either
male type.
Question: Is the existence of two sympatric male morphs maintained by substrate-associated male nest site choice and facilitated by female mate preferences?
Organisms: Male stickleback caught individually at their breeding sites. Females caught with minnow traps.
Methods: In experimental tanks, we simulated the slope and substrate of the two nesting habitats. We then placed individual males in a tank and observed in which habitat the
male would build his nest. In a simultaneous two-stimulus choice design, we gave females the choice between a large, red male and a small, orange one. We measured female morphology and used linear mixed effect models to determine whether female preference correlated with female morphology.
Results: Both red and orange males preferred nesting in the habitat that simulated the
slightly deeper offshore condition. This is the habitat occupied by the small, orange males in the pond itself. The proportion of females that chose a small orange male was similar to that which chose a large red male. Several aspects of female phenotype correlated with the male type that a female preferred.

Interest & Impact

Downloads

257 since deposited on 26 Apr 2016
11 in the past 12 months

Citations

5 Citations in Web of Science ®
6 Citations in Scopus

Search

in Google Scholar™

Services

Actions (login required)

Edit item

Actions (login required)

Edit item