Mate choice copying and mate quality bias: different processes, different species

Abstract

First paragraph: Nonindependent mate choice occurs when a female is influenced in her choices by the actions of other females (Westneat et al. 2000). Mate choice copying is a form of nonindependent mate choice in which the probability of a male being selected as a mate increases if he has previously mated with another female and decreases if he has previously been rejected (Dugatkin 1992; Pruett-Jones 1992; Witte and Ueding 2003). Mate choice copying may evolve for 2, not mutually exclusive, reasons (Gibson and Hoglund 1992). First, it could serve as a shortcut strategy whereby a female avoids the costs of active mate choice like time, energy, and predation risk (e.g., Pomiankowski 1987; Reynolds and Gross 1990), by observing and imitating the actions of other females that have paid the costs of active mate choice and are presumably making relatively successful mating decisions (Pomiankowski 1990; Pruett-Jones 1992). Second, given an error component in the mate assessment process, it could improve the discrimination accuracy of a female, and particularly if she is prone to errors in assessment, as happens for example with young and sexually inexperienced females (Gibson and Hoglund 1992; Nordell and Valone 1998; Danchin et al. 2004). Mate choice copying has been studied experimentally and in natural conditions in a variety of fish and bird species (reviewed in Dugatkin 1996a; Galef and White 2000).