| Title: | Predator experience overrides learned aversion to heterospecifics in stickleback species pairs |
| Address: | "Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA genevieve.kozak@tufts.edu. Department of Zoology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA BEACON, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior Program, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1471-2954 (Electronic) 0962-8452 (Print) 0962-8452 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Predation risk can alter female mating decisions because the costs of mate searching and selecting attractive mates increase when predators are present. In response to predators, females have been found to plastically adjust mate preference within species, but little is known about how predators alter sexual isolation and hybridization among species. We tested the effects of predator exposure on sexual isolation between benthic and limnetic threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus spp.). Female discrimination against heterospecific mates was measured before and after females experienced a simulated attack by a trout predator or a control exposure to a harmless object. In the absence of predators, females showed increased aversion to heterospecifics over time. We found that predator exposure made females less discriminating and precluded this learned aversion to heterospecifics. Benthic and limnetic males differ in coloration, and predator exposure also affected sexual isolation by weakening female preferences for colourful males. Predator effects on sexual selection were also tested but predators had few effects on female choosiness among conspecific mates. Our results suggest that predation risk may disrupt the cognitive processes associated with mate choice and lead to fluctuations in the strength of sexual isolation between species" |
| Keywords: | "Animals *Avoidance Learning Female Food Chain Male Mating Preference, Animal *Predatory Behavior Recognition, Psychology *Reproductive Isolation *Sexual Behavior, Animal Smegmamorpha/*physiology Sympatry Trout/*physiology hybridization learning plasticity;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineKozak, Genevieve M Boughman, Janette W eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. England 2015/03/27 Proc Biol Sci. 2015 Apr 22; 282(1805):20143066. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.3066" |
