We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Evidence of female preference for hidden sex signals in distant fish species.
- Authors
Gozlan, Rodolphe E.; Burnard, Dean; Britton, J. Robert; Andreou, Demetra
- Abstract
Many animals use chemical signals (i.e. pheromones) to select a suitable mate during reproduction. However, animals can have hidden preferences forsex signals of other species outside their species natural range of variation.Here we show attraction to sex chemical signal in two distant species of nest guarding fishes. If geographically isolated species were reunited through translocation, these hidden preferences could represent a risk of pheromone pollution and lead to hybridization.Strong selection against heterospecific sex signals, which includes both receivers and signallers, is considered to be the most significant causal factor in animal signal modification and is expected to prevent mate misinterpretation. Using a simultaneous choice bioassay, we tested the continued use of primordial sex signals in distantly related and geographically separated fish species, Pseudorasbora parva and Pimephales promelas. Here, we show that intraspecific selection pressures have not caused significant sex chemical signal differentiation between the 2 species and that mate attraction is likely due to a combination of common ancestry and an absence of divergence in allopatry. In the absence of mate discrimination among species, which have evolved for long periods of time in allopatry, reunification through species translocation could represent an overlooked risk of pheromone pollution.
- Subjects
FATHEAD minnow; SEMIOCHEMICALS; PHEROMONES; FISH behavior; ANIMAL courtship; ANIMAL behavior
- Publication
Behavioral Ecology, 2014, Vol 25, Issue 1, p53
- ISSN
1045-2249
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/beheco/art084