Mating systems

•Define a mating system, and discuss

why they exist

•What are the major categories of

mating systems?

•What social and environmental

factors lead to different mating
systems?
Sexual selection: a special case of natural
selection based upon an individual's relative
ability to attract and mate with members of
the opposite sex

Individuals with traits that make them more

attractive to the opposite sex may have a
fitness advantage
 -When females choose mates,
what are they basing their choice
on? Ornaments!

-When males compete for access

to mates or breeding resources,
what do they use to compete?
Weapons!

-Extreme competition among

males in mating systems with
multiple mates (polygynous)
Sexual selection can result in sexual dimorphism, a leads to greater sexual
difference in appearance and/or size between males and dimorphism
females of the same species
Mating systems: categories of breeding
season social organization
Mating systems describe
how males and females
match up to reproduce

Key concept: there may be

different reproductive strategies to
maximize fitness, depending on
environmental conditions,
population structure, distribution of
resources.
 Mating systems
How do ecological factors shape mating systems?

EPP
Resource Monopolizability Mating
+
availability of mates system
OSR

Environmental potential for polygamy (EPP) –

spatial and temporal distribution of resources (and mates)

Operational sex ratio (OSR) –

the ratio of # males that are ready to mate ÷ # fertile females that are ready
to mate
First comprehensive model of mating systems by
Emlen and Oring (1977)
What are the assumptions for this model?
1. resource availability determines female distribution
2. female distribution determines male distribution
3. Males are selected to mate multiply, females to mate singly
4. Males should compete, females should be choosy

Environmental
potential for
Resource polygamy Monopolizability Mating
availability + of mates system
Operational
sex ratio
Emlen & Oring: Mating systems are shaped by how
monopolizeable mates are

female
female range female
range range female
male
range
range
female female
range range

Hard to defend Easier to defend

 Types of Mating Systems
Polygamy: an individual has many mates. Includes:
polygyny: one male mates with multiple females
polyandry: one female mates with many males
Monogamy: one male and one female pair off

Polygyny Polyandry Monogamy

+ + +
 Mating systems are defined in
terms of the social system and the
genetic system
•Many bird species are socially
monogamous (about 90% of species)

•but NOT genetically monogamous!

•In many species 10-40% of nests contain

extrapair young
 Monogamy
Why would males ever mate singly?
5 Hypotheses:
1) females reproduce synchronously and can’t be monopolized
Termites go on mating flights synchronously but do
not mate until established in burrows. It pays males
to find a female and stay with her.

2) females enforce monogamy

Female alpha wolves enforce monogamy by suppressing ovulation and
copulation in subordinate females.
3) mate assistance hypothesis: young are so expensive to raise
that it takes 2 parents.
Less than 10% mammal species are monogamous, 90% of bird species are;
this is the primary explanation for social monogamy in birds, one hypothesis
for monogamy in humans. Other 2 are mate guarding, and protection against
infanticide.

4) mate guarding hypothesis: males attend to females to

prevent them from mating with other males.
Dik-dik males stick with their mates, covering up her
territorial markings, dung, etc., otherwise they run
the risk of other males mating with her.
5) females are incredibly rare: if a male finds one, he keeps her.

In the deep sea, female anglerfish are few and far between…

If a male finds one, it attaches itself to her,

fusing its systems with hers, losing most of
its internal organs, functionally becoming a
pair of attached testes
 Male polygyny can easily be explained by sexual selection theory. But, why
is there so much variation in polygynous systems?

Female defense
Resource
polygyny
defense
polygyny

Scramble
Lek polygyny competition
polygyny
Female defense
polygyny
Prediction: if receptive females occur in
defensible clusters, males will compete
for access to clusters, resulting in female
defense polygyny

Females cluster together for many

reasons

This can attract males who then

compete for sexual access to cluster
Resource defense polygyny
Males defend a resource needed by females.
Females clump around resources that are in stable,
defensible locations.
Damselfly males claim prime egg-laying sites
and defend them from other males: in order to
lay eggs, females must mate with the resident
male.

Honeyguides eat beeswax.

Males defend hives full of beeswax from other
males but let females feed.
Scramble competition polygyny
Prediction: if females are widely dispersed mate guarding is not possible, OR,
if females reproduce at the same time, the costs of defense outweigh benefits;
should favor no defense

Scramble competition polygyny

—males race to find scarce
females

Example: explosive breeders,

such as wood frogs
Lek polygyny
Males defend a display area that has no other purpose Flies and moths

Sage grouse Hammer-

head Bower
bat birds

Uganda kob

Only a few males will emerge as big winners

in this system: 10-20% of males may get >
50% of matings.

Evolutionary puzzle: why do males defend a space that has no food or other resource,
other than a place to display right next to all of your rivals?
A mysterious system of polygyny: lek polygyny
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zxJPQlFFTI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=Sxl_bvCRgyE&list=RDSxl_bvCRgyE&start_radio=1&rv=Sxl_bvCRgyE&t=
42
Lek polygyny
Possible explanations for
male clustering:

HotSPOT hypothesis:
males cluster in places
where receptive females are
likely to occur

HotSHOT hypothesis subordinate males cluster around

attractive males to interact with females and perhaps get to
mate
Test of hotspot vs. hotshot hypotheses:
remove successful males from lek

Prediction under hotspot hypothesis: other males should move into the favored
area
Prediction under hotshot hypothesis: clusters of males should disperse if popular
male is removed

When central great snipe males removed from

lek, neighbors also left the lek

Supports hotshot hypothesis

Test of hotspot vs. hotshot hypotheses: remove successful males from lek

In fallow deer, logging activity shifted

paths used by females

After logging, males gathered in new

locations

Supports hotspot hypothesis

 Do females ever benefit from mating
multiply?
Hypotheses for why females voluntarily mate with more than one mate:

1. Fertility assurance – what if their mate is infertile?

2. Genetic variety – offspring are not inbred, offspring vary in their
phenotype
3. Good genes – best genes from the best males, to be passed onto sons
4. Infanticide reduction
5. Other direct benefits: more resources, parental care, protection
What’s good for males is not always good for
females, and vice versa

• Polygyny is assumed to be beneficial to

males.
• Is it always advantageous for females?

Polygyny threshold =
the point at which the reproductive success of a
polygynous female on a better territory equals
(or exceeds) that of a monogamous female on a
poorer territory
What’s good for males is not always good for Red winged blackbird
females, and vice versa

• Polygyny is assumed to be beneficial to

males.
• Is it always advantageous for females?
Unmated male
10

Female reproductive success

Polygyny threshold =
the point at which the reproductive success of a 8 Mated male
polygynous female on a better territory equals
6 Unmated male
(or exceeds) that of a monogamous female on a
poorer territory 4 Mated male

2
0
High Low
Territory Quality
Polyandry
is the opposite of the pattern you would expect based on anisogamy, and is
relatively rare.
Why does it occur?
Hypothesis: high predation limits success of breeding attempts. Females make multiple breeding
attempts while males care for the offspring, both male and female fitness is increased.

Sandpipers
High predation: ~37% of nests fail
Sandpiper females defend territories
and may attract multiple mates.
-Females lay clutches that males incubate = RS
-Males benefit by getting multiple clutches