Skip Navigation


Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on May 7, 2007
Behavioral Ecology 2007 18(4):696-700; doi:10.1093/beheco/arm032
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
18/4/696    most recent
arm032v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (1)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lehtonen, T. K.
Right arrow Articles by Lindström, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Lehtonen, T. K.
Right arrow Articles by Lindström, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Mate preference for multiple cues: interplay between male and nest size in the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus

Topi K. Lehtonen, Simo Rintakoski and Kai Lindström

Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, PO Box 65, FI–00014 University of Helsinki, Finland

Address correspondence to T.K. Lehtonen, who is now at Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, D–78457 Konstanz, Germany. E-mail: topi.lehtonen{at}uni.konstanz.de. K. Lindström is now at the Environmental and Marine Biology, Åbo Akademi University, FI–20500 Turku, Finland.


  Abstract

Female mating preferences are often based on more than one cue. In empirical studies, however, different mate choice cues are typically treated separately ignoring their possible interactions. In the current work, we studied how male body size and size of the male's nest jointly affect mate preferences of female sand gobies, Pomatoschistus minutus. The females were given a binary choice between males that differed either in body size or size of their nest or both. We found that neither body size nor size of the nest alone affected male attractiveness, but together these 2 cues had a significant effect. Specifically, large males were more popular among females when they had a large nest than when they occupied a small nest. The results suggest that if interaction effects between multiple mate choice cues are not considered, there is a danger of ignoring or underestimating the importance of these cues in sexual selection by female choice.

Key words: mate choice, multiple cues, nest size, Pomatoschistus minutus, sexual selection.

Received 29 December 2006; revised 5 March 2007; accepted 20 March 2007.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
L. T. Lancaster, C. A. Hipsley, and B. Sinervo
Female choice for optimal combinations of multiple male display traits increases offspring survival
Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2009; 20(5): 993 - 999.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Behav EcolHome page
T. K. Lehtonen and B. B.M. Wong
Should females prefer males with elaborate nests?
Behav. Ecol., September 1, 2009; 20(5): 1015 - 1019.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.