Document type
Journal articles
Document subtype
Full paper
Title
Mate-choice copying accelerates species range expansion
Participants in the publication
Manuel Sapage (Author)
FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA
cE3c/FCUL
Mauro Santos (Author)
Margarida Matos (Author)
cE3c/FCUL
Dep. Biologia Animal
Ingo Schlupp (Author)
Susana A. M. Varela (Author)
Summary
Mate-choice copying is a type of social learning in which females can change their mate preference after observing the choice of others. This behaviour can potentially affect population evolution and ecology, namely through increased dispersal and reduced local adaptation. Here, we simulated the effects of mate-choice copying in populations expanding across an environmental gradient to understand whether it can accelerate or retard the expansion process. Two mate-choice copying strategies were used: (i) when females target a single individual and (ii) when females target similar individuals. We also simulated cases where the male trait singled out by females with mate choice maps perfectly onto his genotype or is influenced by genotype-by-environment interactions. These rules have different effects on the results. When a trait is determined by genotype alone, populations where copier females target all similar males expand faster and the number of potential copiers increased. However, when preference is determined by genotype-by-environment interactions, populations where copier females target a single male had higher dispersal and also expand faster, but the potential number of copiers decreases. The results show that mate-choice copying can accelerate the expansion process, although its adaptiveness depends on the information animals use in different contexts.
Date of Publication
2024-08
Institution
FACULDADE DE CIÊNCIAS DA UNIVERSIDADE DE LISBOA
Where published
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publication Identifiers
ISSN - 0962-8452
Publisher
The Royal Society
Document Identifiers
DOI -
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1201
URL -
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2024.1201
Rankings
Web Of Science Q1 (2023) - 3.8 - Biology
SCIMAGO Q1 (2023) - 1.692 - Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
Keywords
Sexual selection
social learning
mate-choice copying
population dynamics
individual-based simulations
local adaptation
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