INFORMATION SHARING AND THE CULTURAL EVOLUTION OF PREFERENCES

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Mate-choice copying: A fitness-enhancing behavior that evolves by indirect selection

Publication . Santos, Mauro; Sapage, Manuel; Matos, Margarida; Varela, Susana A. M.

A spatially explicit, individual-based simulation model is used to study the spread of an allele for mate-choice copying (MCC) through horizontal cultural transmission when female innate preferences do or do not coevolve with a male viability-increasing trait. Evolution of MCC is unlikely when innate female preferences coevolve with the trait, as copier females cannot express a higher preference than noncopier females for high-fitness males. However, if a genetic polymorphism for innate preference persists in the population, MCC can evolve by indirect selection through hitchhiking: the copying allele hitchhikes on the male trait. MCC can be an adaptive behavior-that is, a behavior that increases a population's average fitness relative to populations without MCC-even though the copying allele itself may be neutral or mildly deleterious.

2017-03-23Artigo científico

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Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Número da atribuição

SFRH/BPD/66042/2009