Optimal mate choice patterns in pelagic copepods

Jan Heuschele, Sigrunn Eliassen, Thomas Kiørboe

The importance of sexual selection for the evolution, dynamics and adaptation of organisms is well known for many species. However, the topic is rarely studied in marine plankton, the basis of the marine food web. Copepods show behaviors that suggest the existence of sexually selected traits, and recent laboratory experiments identified some selected morphological traits. Here, we use a 'life history-based' model of sex roles to determine the optimal choosiness behavior of male and female copepods for important copepod traits. Copepod females are predicted to be choosy at population densities typically occurring during the main breeding season, whereas males are not. The main drivers of this pattern are population density and the difference in non-receptive periods between males and females. This suggests that male reproductive traits have evolved mainly due to mate competition. The model can easily be parameterized for other planktonic organisms, and be used to plan experiments about sexual selection.