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"Cryptic" direct benefits of mate choice: choosy females experience reduced predation risk while in precopula

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Abstract

Despite the central role that female mate choice plays in the production of biological diversity, controversy remains concerning its evolution and maintenance. This is particularly true in systems where females are choosy but do not receive obvious direct benefits such as nuptial gifts that increase a female's survival and fecundity. In the absence of such direct benefits, indirect benefits (i.e., the production of superior offspring) are often invoked to explain the evolution of mate choice. However, females may receive less obvious, or "cryptic," direct benefits, particularly in species with prolonged pre-mating interactions (e.g., precopulatory mate guarding). We assessed the “cryptic” direct benefits of female choice for large male size in two species of freshwater amphipods that do not receive obvious direct benefits. Females paired with large males experienced decreased predation from fish. However, we found that the size of a female’s mate did not affect her predation risk against predatory dragonflies or the harassment she received by single males while paired. Our results demonstrate that even when females receive no traditional direct benefits, female choice for large male size can still provide important direct benefits. Such “cryptic” direct benefits may be common, especially in species with prolonged mating interactions, and are likely important for fully understanding the evolution of mate choice.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Brianna Bailey, Devin Jones, John Hammond, Kate Henderson, Jessica Hua, and Ab Mittal for assistance with this project. This work was funded by a NSF grant awarded to RAR. KC was supported by a NSF Research Experience for Teachers supplement awarded to RAR.

Ethical standards

The experiments reported herein comply with the current laws of the USA.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    Rickey D. Cothran, Kristopher Chapman, Andy R. Stiff & Rick A. Relyea

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  1. Rickey D. Cothran
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  2. Kristopher Chapman
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  3. Andy R. Stiff
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  4. Rick A. Relyea
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Correspondence to Rickey D. Cothran.

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Communicated by M. Siva-Jothy

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Cothran, R.D., Chapman, K., Stiff, A.R. et al. "Cryptic" direct benefits of mate choice: choosy females experience reduced predation risk while in precopula. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 66, 905–913 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-012-1339-y

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