Preference for male traits differ in two female morphs of the tree lizard, Urosaurus ornatus

Non-random female mating preferences may contribute to the maintenance of phenotypic variation in color polymorphic species. However, the effect of female preference depends on the types of male traits used as signals by receptive females. If preference signals derive from discrete male traits (i.e....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 9; no. 7; p. e101515
Main Authors:	Lattanzio, Matthew S, Metro, Kevin J, Miles, Donald B
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 17-07-2014 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Aggressive behavior Aggressiveness Animal behavior Animal reproduction Animals Biology Biology and Life Sciences Color Ecology Female Females Femur Lizards Male Males Mate selection Mating behavior Mating Preference, Animal - physiology Morphology Multivariate analysis Phenotypic variations Polymorphism Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide Preferences Reproduction Secretions Sex Attractants - genetics Skin Pigmentation - genetics Success Trees Urosaurus ornatus Visual signals Women consumers Zoology
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Summary:	Non-random female mating preferences may contribute to the maintenance of phenotypic variation in color polymorphic species. However, the effect of female preference depends on the types of male traits used as signals by receptive females. If preference signals derive from discrete male traits (i.e., morph-specific), female preferences may rapidly fix to a morph. However, female preference signals may also include condition-dependent male traits. In this scenario, female preference may differ depending on the social context (i.e., male morph availability). Male tree lizards (Urosaurus ornatus) exhibit a dewlap color polymorphism that covaries with mating behavior. Blue morph males are aggressive and defend territories, yellow males are less aggressive and defend smaller territories, and orange males are typically nomadic. Female U. ornatus are also polymorphic in dewlap color, but the covariation between dewlap color and female behavior is unknown. We performed an experiment to determine how female mate choice depends on the visual and chemical signals produced by males. We also tested whether female morphs differ in their preferences for these signals. Female preferences involved both male dewlap color and size of the ventral color patch. However, the female morphs responded to these signals differently and depended on the choice between the types of male morphs. Our experiment revealed that females may be capable of distinguishing among the male morphs using chemical signals alone. Yellow females exhibit preferences based on both chemical and visual signals, which may be a strategy to avoid ultra-dominant males. In contrast, orange females may prefer dominant males. We conclude that female U. ornatus morphs differ in mating behavior. Our findings also provide evidence for a chemical polymorphism among male lizards in femoral pore secretions.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Current address: Department of Organismal and Environmental Biology, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia, United States of America Conceived and designed the experiments: MSL KJM DBM. Performed the experiments: KJM MSL. Analyzed the data: MSL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MSL KJM DBM. Wrote the paper: MSL. Significantly contributed to the editing process: DBM KJM. Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0101515