Prioritizing Sex Recognition Over Learned Species Recognition: Hierarchical Mate Recognition in an Invasive Fish
dc.contributor.author
dc.date.accessioned
2021-05-14T06:26:25Z
dc.date.available
2021-05-14T06:26:25Z
dc.date.issued
2021-04-26
dc.identifier.issn
1540-9295
dc.identifier.uri
dc.description.abstract
Mate recognition is the process of identifying and assessing the appropriate species, sex or population of another individual for their suitability as a potential mate. Recognition may be innate or learned. Learning, the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, involves a relatively long-term change in behavioral responses. In this study we examined learned and innate mate recognition in invasive male mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, interacting with female conspecifics and male and female native toothcarp, Aphanius iberus. Male mosquitofish directed no mating attempts at male toothcarp whereas numerous attempts were made toward female toothcarp. Male mosquitofish therefore differentiated between males and females, but initially did not distinguish between con- and heterospecific females. Neither the presence of a male toothcarp, nor the presence of a refugia affected the number of mating attempts received by females. However, by the second day males appeared to learn to more accurately direct their mating attempts, with larger female mosquitofish receiving the most attention, though smaller toothcarp females were still harassed. We propose that male mosquitofish, with a coercive mating system, are selected for persistence despite rejection by potential mates. In this scenario, the pool of potential mates may include heterospecifics whose avoidance of mating attempts may be ignored by male mosquitofish. It may thus be adaptive for male mosquitofish to prioritize sex recognition over species recognition: if one sex is recognized as a “non-mate” this will cut 50% from the pool of potential mates whereas recognition of a single species will remove many fewer potential mates from the pool. This innate sex recognition together with rapid learning of species identity may be a factor in the invasive success of mosquitofish
dc.description.sponsorship
This research was supported by a Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant within the 7th European Community Framework Program (KM). Additional financial support was provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science (projects CGL2009-12877-C02-01, CSD2009-00065, and PID2019-103936GB-C21).
dc.format.mimetype
application/pdf
dc.language.iso
eng
dc.publisher
Frontiers & Ecological Society of America
dc.relation
MICINN/PN 2010-2012/CGL2009-12877-C02-01
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/MICINN//CSD2009-00065/ES/Evaluación y predicción de los efectos del cambio global en la cantidad y la calidad del agua en ríos ibéricos/
info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/AEI/Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2017-2020/PID2019-103936GB-C21/ES/BIOLOGIA DE LA CONSERVACION DE PECES CIPRINODONTIFORMES EN PELIGRO DE EXTINCION: ECOLOGIA/
dc.relation.isformatof
Reproducció digital del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.646357
dc.relation.ispartof
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 2021, vol. 9, art.núm. 646357
dc.relation.ispartofseries
Articles publicats (D-CCAA)
dc.rights
Attribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.uri
dc.subject
dc.title
Prioritizing Sex Recognition Over Learned Species Recognition: Hierarchical Mate Recognition in an Invasive Fish
dc.type
info:eu-repo/semantics/article
dc.rights.accessRights
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.type.version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
dc.identifier.doi
dc.contributor.funder
dc.type.peerreviewed
peer-reviewed
dc.relation.FundingProgramme
dc.relation.ProjectAcronym