Article
Entomology
Alois Honek, Zdenka Martinkova
Summary: This study investigated the benefits of copulation with large males in the firebug species, Pyrrhocoris apterus. The results showed that increasing male body size did not have a positive effect on the reproductive characteristics of females. Several reasons for this deficiency were discussed.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yao Hou, Ke Tang, Jingyuan Wang, Danxia Xie, Hanzhe Zhang
Summary: This study provides strong evidence supporting assortative mating based on blood type using a unique dataset of one million Chinese pregnancies.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Whitney L. Heuring, Melissa Hughes
Summary: Size-assortative pairing is common in many species, where males and females benefit from pairing with larger individuals. This study on snapping shrimp finds that the size-assortative pairing varies seasonally, with greater size differences within pairs during the reproductive season. Females tend to be larger than males during this season, while pairs are size-matched or male-biased during the nonreproductive season. These findings suggest seasonal differences in pair formation and highlight nonreproductive benefits associated with monogamous pairing.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Ana Leitao, Michelle L. Hall, Raoul A. Mulder
Summary: This study investigated the sexual selection of plumage ornamentation in female and male lovely fairy-wrens, finding that plumage color was correlated with parental quality but not individual quality or survival. Positive assortative mating based on plumage color was also observed, with less colorful males obtaining higher extrapair paternity when paired with more colorful females.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Peyton A. Rather, Abigail E. Herzog, David A. Ernst, Erica L. Westerman
Summary: The study found that social experience can influence male mate preference in the butterfly Heliconius melpomene, which has implications for the speciation of butterfly species.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Jiayu Wang, Daiping Wang, Qiuyang Chen, Juan Zhang, Paul Racey, Yiting Jiang, Dongmei Wan, Jiangxia Yin
Summary: This study examines the influence of exploration behavior on mate choice in female Java sparrows. The results show that females prefer high exploratory males as mates, rather than choosing mates based on their own exploration behavior. This finding highlights the importance of male exploration behavior in mate preference in birds.
BEHAVIOURAL PROCESSES
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Yusan Yang, Corinne L. Richards-Zawacki
Summary: This study investigated the impact of male-male competition on mate choice, and found that in the strawberry poison frog, territorial competition among males determines females' mating choice, rather than their preference for male coloration.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
E. Keith Bowers
Summary: Woodman et al. investigate age-assortative mating in bird populations with different life-history strategies. They find that in long-lived mute swans, positive age-assortative mating occurs through active mate selection, while in shorter-lived great tits, it is primarily a passive byproduct of demographic processes.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Paulo B. Chaves, Karen B. Strier, Anthony Di Fiore
Summary: Evidence suggests that females, both human and nonhuman primates, avoid breeding with close kin and may choose mates based on MHC diversity. In egalitarian societies like the northern muriquis, female mate choice is less constrained and sires with higher MHC diversity are preferred. However, there is no evidence of mating preference for males who are more distantly related or have more MHC alleles distinct from their own, suggesting that female mate choice may be limited by other factors impacting male fertilization success.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Pietro Pollo, Nathan W. Burke, Gregory Holwell
Summary: This study explored the effects of male activity levels and female aggressiveness on mating behavior and sexual cannibalism in the springbok mantis, finding that more active males were faster and more likely to interact with females while younger females were more likely to cannibalize males. The study suggests that both male and female personality traits influence the likelihood of sexual encounters, but have little effect on the likelihood of cannibalism, highlighting the potential for personality traits of both sexes to influence mating dynamics in sexually cannibalistic species.
Article
Entomology
Xue-Yuan Di, Bin Yan, Cheng-Xu Wu, Xiao-Fei Yu, Jian-Feng Liu, Mao-Fa Yang
Summary: The study compared the life performance and mating choice of Spodoptera litura reared on different diets, showing significant effects on developmental stages, fecundity, and mate choice. Artificial diet may promote behavioral isolation, impacting mating outcomes. Host plant preference during the larval stage may shape phenotypic plasticity and behavioral isolation in S. litura populations.
Article
Ecology
Rachel H. Corney, Laura K. Weir
Summary: Reproductive isolation can occur due to differences in mate preference associated with body size, which can play a role in divergence between groups. The goal of the study was to examine differences in mate preference between two ecotypes of Threespine Stickleback males, with one ecotype providing parental care. Results showed that males investing in parental care preferred larger females, while those not providing care did not exhibit a preference for larger females.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2023)
Article
Biology
Carrie L. Branch, Joseph F. Welklin, Benjamin R. Sonnenberg, Lauren M. Benedict, Virginia K. Heinen, Angela M. Pitera, Eli S. Bridge, Vladimir V. Pravosudov
Summary: This study compared the spatial cognitive performance and food caching propensity of mountain chickadees in different winter climates to understand how these measures contribute to social mate choice. The findings suggest that cognition and caching propensity may influence social mating decisions, but only in certain environments and for some aspects of cognition.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Biology
David Bierbach, Ronja Wenchel, Stefan Gehrig, Serafina Wersing, Olivia L. O'Connor, Jens Krause
Summary: Through two experiments, we found that male guppies prefer females with higher swimming activity levels as mating partners, which may be related to individual quality, health or reproductive state.
Article
Ecology
Joe P. P. Woodman, Ella F. F. Cole, Josh A. A. Firth, Christopher M. M. Perrins, Ben C. C. Sheldon
Summary: Age has significant effects on behavior, survival, and reproduction. Age-assortative mating is common, but the mechanisms driving it are not well understood. This study compares breeding data from great tits and mute swans to investigate the contributions of pair retention, cohort age structure, and active age-related mate selection to age assortment. The results show that the drivers of age assortment differ between the species, likely due to their different life histories and demographic differences. Understanding these mechanisms and their consequences is important for wild populations.
JOURNAL OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Erica T. Akhter, Ariane Pereira, Melissa Hughes, Christopher A. Korey
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Rindy C. Anderson, William A. Searcy, Susan Peters, Melissa Hughes, Adrienne L. DuBois, Stephen Nowicki
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Patricia Cooney, Christopher A. Korey, Melissa Hughes
JOURNAL OF CRUSTACEAN BIOLOGY
(2017)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Ann Wassick, Melissa Hughes, J. Antonio Baeza, Amy Fowler, Dara Wilber
MARINE AND FRESHWATER BEHAVIOUR AND PHYSIOLOGY
(2017)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jennifer Scales, Jeremy Hymanb, Melissa Hughes
Review
Biology
Arik Kershenbaum, Daniel T. Blumstein, Marie A. Roch, Caglar Akcay, Gregory Backus, Mark A. Bee, Kirsten Bohn, Yan Cao, Gerald Carter, Cristiane Caesar, Michael Coen, Stacy L. DeRuiter, Laurance Doyle, Shimon Edelman, Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho, Todd M. Freeberg, Ellen C. Garland, Morgan Gustison, Heidi E. Harley, Chloe Huetz, Melissa Hughes, Julia Hyland Bruno, Amiyaal Ilany, Dezhe Z. Jin, Michael Johnson, Chenghui Ju, Jeremy Karnowski, Bernard Lohr, Marta B. Manser, Brenda McCowan, Eduardo Mercado, Peter M. Narins, Alex Piel, Megan Rice, Roberta Salmi, Kazutoshi Sasahara, Laela Sayigh, Yu Shiu, Charles Taylor, Edgar E. Vallejo, Sara Waller, Veronica Zamora-Gutierrez
BIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
(2016)
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
E. Tracey, A. Pereira, M. Hughes, C. A. Korey
Article
Psychology, Biological
Melissa Hughes, Tucker Williamson, Kathleen Hollowell, Rachel Vickery
Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Ariane Pereira, Erica Tracey, Patricia C. Cooney, Christopher A. Korey, Melissa Hughes
MARINE AND FRESHWATER BEHAVIOUR AND PHYSIOLOGY
(2014)
Article
Ecology
Whitney L. Heuring, Melissa Hughes
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2019)
Review
Psychology, Biological
Melissa Hughes, Susan M. Bertram, Anna M. Young, Justin W. Merry, Gita R. Kolluru, Aimee S. Dunlap, Anne Danielson-Francois, Stacey Weiss
Summary: Moving behavior courses online due to COVID-19 presents challenges but also opportunities for interactive and social learning. Instructors should consider challenges related to inclusivity, learning formats, assignments, testing, and laboratory design, while also finding new ways to engage students through online instruction.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Whitney L. Heuring, Melissa Hughes
Summary: Size-assortative pairing is common in many species, where males and females benefit from pairing with larger individuals. This study on snapping shrimp finds that the size-assortative pairing varies seasonally, with greater size differences within pairs during the reproductive season. Females tend to be larger than males during this season, while pairs are size-matched or male-biased during the nonreproductive season. These findings suggest seasonal differences in pair formation and highlight nonreproductive benefits associated with monogamous pairing.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY AND SOCIOBIOLOGY
(2022)
Editorial Material
Behavioral Sciences
Melissa Hughes
Article
Behavioral Sciences
James A. Klarevas-Irby, Damien R. Farine
Summary: Little is known about how animals overcome temporal constraints on movement during dispersal. This study used GPS tracking of vulturine guineafowl and found that dispersers showed the greatest increase in movement at the same times of day when they moved the most prior to dispersal. These findings suggest that individuals face the same ecological constraints during dispersal as they do in daily life and achieve large displacements by maximizing movement when conditions are most favorable.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Simone Ciaralli, Martina Esposito, Stefano Francesconi, Daniela Muzzicato, Marco Gamba, Matteo Dal Zotto, Daniela Campobello
Summary: Male cuckoos may transfer nest location information to females as a nonmaterial nuptial gift through specific postures and behaviors, potentially influencing mating choices of female cuckoos.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Anne E. Aulsebrook, Rowan Jacques-Hamilton, Bart Kempenaers
Summary: Accelerometry and machine learning have been used to quantify mating behaviors of captive male ruffs. Different machine learning methods were compared and evaluated for their classification performance. The study highlights the challenges and potential pitfalls in classifying mating behaviors using accelerometry and provides recommendations and considerations for future research.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Maria G. Smith, Joshua B. LaPergola, Christina Riehl
Summary: This study analyzed individual contributions to parental care in the greater ani bird and found that workload inequality varied between groups of two and three pairs. However, there was no clear evidence of division of labour within the groups, suggesting individual differences in overall work performed.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Noah M. T. Smith, Reuven Dukas
Summary: Winner and loser effects are observed in many animals, and recent experiments suggest that they may also occur in humans. In two experiments involving video games and reading comprehension, participants who won in the first phase performed significantly better in the second phase compared to those who lost. The effect size was larger in the video game experiment, and men and women showed similar magnitudes of winner and loser effects.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bianca J. L. Marcellino, Peri Yee, Shannon J. Mccauley, Rosalind L. Murray
Summary: This study examines the trade-off between mating effort and thermoregulatory behavior in dragonflies in response to temperature changes, and investigates the effect of wing melanin on these behaviors. The results indicate that as temperature increases, dragonflies reduce their mating effort and increase their thermoregulatory behavior.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Rafael Rios Moura, Paulo Inacio Prado, Joao Vasconcellos-Neto
Summary: This study examined the escape behavior and decision-making of Aglaoctenus castaneus spiders on different substrates. It was found that spiders inhabiting injurious substrates displayed shorter flight initiation distances and lower sensitivity to predators.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Luigi Baciadonna, Cwyn Solvi, Francesca Terranova, Camilla Godi, Cristina Pilenga, Livio Favaro
Summary: In this study, it was found that African penguins could use ventral dot patterns to recognize their lifelong partner and nonpartner colonymates. This challenges the previous assumption of limited visual involvement in penguin communication, highlighting the complex and flexible recognition process in birds.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Nick A. R. Jones, Jade Newton-Youens, Joachim G. Frommen
Summary: Environmental conditions, particularly temperature, have a significant impact on animal behavior. This study focused on aggression in Neolamprologus pulcher fish and found that aggression rates increased with temperature at lower levels, but decreased after reaching a peak. Additionally, the influence of high temperatures on aggression changed over time during the trials. These findings provide a more comprehensive understanding of the short-term effects of temperature on aggression and highlight the importance of considering non-linear changes in thermal performance.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Bruno Herlander Martins, Andrea Soriano-Redondo, Aldina M. A. Franco, Ines Carry
Summary: Human activities have affected the availability of resources for wildlife, particularly through the provision of anthropogenic food subsidies at landfill sites. This study explores the influence of age on landfill attendance and foraging behavior in white storks. Adult storks visit landfills more frequently and show dominance over juveniles in food acquisition. Juveniles have limited access to landfill resources and are forced to use lower quality areas.
