RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Sexual selection drives maladaptive learning under climate warming
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.11.05.369561
DO 10.1101/2020.11.05.369561
A1 Marie-Jeanne Holveck
A1 Doriane Muller
A1 Bertanne Visser
A1 Christophe Pels
A1 Arthur Timmermans
A1 Lidwine Colonval
A1 Fabrice Jan
A1 Michel Crucifix
A1 Caroline M. Nieberding
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/11/06/2020.11.05.369561.abstract
AB Current predictions for the effects of the climate crisis on biodiversity loss have so far ignored the effects of learning ability and sexual selection. Using the African butterfly Bicyclus anynana, which shows strong phenotypic plasticity in response to temperature, we show that learning produces a maladaptive mate preference under climate warming. We modelled climate warming and found that as temperature becomes an unreliable cue at the onset of the dry season, adult butterflies displayed the wet season rather than the dry season form. Female learning further suppressed their innate, adaptive sexual preference for dry season males. Instead, females learned to prefer a phenotype transiently present during the seasonal transition. Female fertility and longevity were also affected by learning, reducing female fitness following climate warming. Our results emphasize the importance of sexual selection, learning, and their fitness consequences for understanding (mal)adaptation of natural populations to climate warming.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.