Multivariate selection drives concordant patterns of pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection in a livebearing fish

Alessandro Devigili (), Jonathan P. Evans, Andrea Di Nisio and Andrea Pilastro
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Alessandro Devigili: University of Padova
Jonathan P. Evans: Centre for Evolutionary Biology, School of Animal Biology, University of Western Australia
Andrea Di Nisio: University of Padova
Andrea Pilastro: University of Padova

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract In many species, females mate with multiple partners, meaning that sexual selection on male traits operates across a spectrum that encompasses the competition for mates (that is, before mating) and fertilizations (after mating). Despite being inextricably linked, pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection are typically studied independently, and we know almost nothing about how sexual selection operates across this divide. Here we bridge this knowledge gap using the livebearing fish Poecilia reticulata. We show that both selective episodes, as well as their covariance, explain a significant component of variance in male reproductive fitness. Moreover, linear and nonlinear selection simultaneously act on pre- and postcopulatory traits, and interact to generate multiple phenotypes with similar fitness.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9291

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