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Evidence for a receiver bias underlying female preference for a male mating pheromone in sea lamprey

Overview of attention for article published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, November 2013
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Title
Evidence for a receiver bias underlying female preference for a male mating pheromone in sea lamprey
Published in
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, November 2013
DOI 10.1098/rspb.2013.1966
Pubmed ID
Authors

T. J. Buchinger, H. Wang, W. Li, N. S. Johnson

Abstract

Receiver bias models suggest that a male sexual signal became exaggerated to match a pre-existing sensory, perceptual or cognitive disposition of the female. Accordingly, these models predict that females of related taxa possessing the ancestral state of signalling evolved preference for the male trait in a non-sexual context. We postulated that female preference for the male-released bile alcohol mating pheromone, 3 keto petromyzonol sulfate (3kPZS), of the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) evolved as a result of a receiver bias. In particular, we propose that migratory silver lamprey (Ichthyomyzon unicuspis), a basal member of the Petromyzontidae, evolved a preference for 3kPZS released by stream-resident larvae as a means of identifying productive habitat for offspring. Larval silver lamprey released 3kPZS at rates sufficient to be detected by migratory lampreys. Females responded to 3kPZS by exhibiting upstream movement behaviours relevant in a migratory context, but did not exhibit proximate behaviours important to mate search and spawning. Male silver lamprey did not release 3kPZS at rates sufficient to be detected by females in natural high-volume stream environments. We infer that female silver lamprey cue onto 3kPZS excreted by stream-resident larvae as a mechanism to locate habitat conducive to offspring survival and that males do not signal with 3kPZS. We suggest that this female preference for a male signal in a non-sexual context represents a bias leading to the sexual signalling observed in sea lamprey.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 28 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Brazil 1 4%
Unknown 27 96%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 7 25%
Researcher 6 21%
Student > Ph. D. Student 5 18%
Student > Bachelor 3 11%
Student > Postgraduate 3 11%
Other 1 4%
Unknown 3 11%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 15 54%
Environmental Science 2 7%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 2 7%
Business, Management and Accounting 1 4%
Immunology and Microbiology 1 4%
Other 2 7%
Unknown 5 18%