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Spatial ability, dominance rank, and sexual selection among meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus)
| Title: | Spatial ability, dominance rank, and sexual selection among meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) |
| Author: | Spritzer, Mark David |
| Description: | Sexual selection occurs through female choice, scramble competition and contest competition for mates. I investigated the relative importance of these mechanisms in determining reproductive success of male meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus). Spatial ability and dominance rank were measured as traits believed to be selected by scramble and contest competition, respectively. Spatial ability and dominance rank of males were determined using water maze and neutral-arena trials, respectively. Males that varied in these traits were used for experiments conducted in outdoor enclosures. Home range size was determined using radio telemetry and trapping. Females were housed in nest boxes to determine the ability of males to locate females. I tested the hypothesis that males with better spatial ability achieve greater reproductive success. Paternity was determined by amplifying polymorphic loci using nine microsatellite primers. Males with better spatial ability had larger home ranges and visited more females, but did not achieve greater reproductive success. This latter result did not seem to be due to a trade-off between mate-searching and mate-guarding abilities. Dominant males had better spatial-learning ability, and had quicker learning speed, but did not have better spatial memory than less aggressive subordinates. Spatial-learning ability was poorest and spatial-learning speed was slowest for males collected during a peak in population density, suggesting that a mate-searching phenotype may be density dependent. I also tested the relative importance of spatial ability and dominance rank in determining female mating preferences and frequency of visitation to females’ nests. Dominance rank was not correlated with nest visitation or home range size. Males better at simple spatial learning visited more females, while males better at a spatial-transfer task ranged widely and visited fewer females. Males with better spatial memory had smaller ranges and revisited the same females. In a laboratory experiment, females preferred males with good spatial ability and low dominance rank over males with poor spatial ability and high dominance rank. Females showed no preference between males with good spatial ability and high dominance rank and males with poor spatial ability and low dominance rank. Both female choice and scramble competition seem to favor males with better spatial ability. |
| Permanent Link: |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1059060297
http://hdl.handle.net/2374.OX/108601 |
| Date: | 2003 |
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