Assortative versus disassortative mating preferences of female zebra finches based on self-referent phenotype matching
Section snippets
Methods
We used a choice chamber paradigm to test for mating preferences. Preferences were measured as time spent close to individual males, since this measure has been shown to correlate with female responsiveness, solicitations to copulations and pairing in aviaries (Clayton, 1990, Houtman, 1992, Witte, 2006, Forstmeier, 2007). The time spent with focal males is significantly repeatable in our population when the same female is tested with the same set of stimulus males several weeks apart (
Results
In 64 trials conducted with the F1 cohort, females showed a significant avoidance of the unfamiliar brother (randomization test: P = 0.011, d ± SE = −0.30 ± 0.12; Fig. 2). In both series of trials with the F2 generation, the results were clearly nonsignificant (F2-1: P = 0.60, d = −0.03 ± 0.07; F2-2: P = 0.67, d = 0.06 ± 0.14; Fig. 2). Despite these differences in estimates, cohorts did not differ significantly from each other (one-way ANOVA: F2,312 = 2.20, P = 0.11). Combining the results in a Bayesian framework by
Discussion
We found a significant avoidance of unfamiliar brothers among 64 females, but could not replicate this finding in two follow-up experiments. This is not easily explained by changes in the experimental design or rearing conditions, since the outcomes of the three experiments did not differ significantly from each other and testable differences in rearing conditions did not show significant effects. The combined effect size ranged from −0.14 to +0.04 standard deviations (95% Bayesian credibility
Acknowledgments
We thank York Winter and Erich Koch for technical help in setting up the choice chambers. James Dale, Bart Kempenaers and Shinichi Nakagawa made helpful comments on the manuscript. Stefan van Dongen gave statistical advice. This project was funded by the German Research Council (DFG, Emmy Noether Fellowship to WF: FO 340/2).
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