Impact of infection on mate choice

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.01.026

Animal Behaviour

Volume 90, April 2014, Pages 159-170

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.01.026 Get rights and content

Highlights

•
Infection by parasites can reduce individual fitness.
•
Host responses to infection during mate choice are intended to avoid infection.
•
We highlight the main limitations in current knowledge on infection avoidance.
•
We summarize key factors that should affect infection avoidance in mate choice.
•
The molecular mechanisms at the basis of infection avoidance need to be examined.

Sexual selection predicts that mate choice increases individual fitness. Infection by parasites (from eukaryotes to bacteria or viruses) can reduce this individual fitness, altering the infected individuals' sexual traits and molecular cues. In this case, one would expect to observe mechanisms for avoiding infection during mate choice. The vast majority of host responses to infection in terms of mate choice are intended to avoid infection, but the costs of mate choice can also hinder infection avoidance. This paper highlights the main limitations in current knowledge and empirical experiments, and summarizes the key factors that should be taken into account to test the hypothesis of infection avoidance in mate choice: the time of host–parasite coevolution in the biological interaction implied, the choosy sex tested (male, female or both) and the genetic background of the individuals tested.

Section snippets

Effect of Infection on Sexual Traits

Some traits (e.g. ornaments, coloration, calling song, odours) are altered by simple or multiple infections and correlate with these (Biard et al., 2010, Hamilton and Poulin, 1999, Hamilton and Zuk, 1982, Horak et al., 2004, Potti and Merino, 1996, Ryder and Siva-Jothy, 2000). For example, bill colour, plasma carotenoid levels and body mass are strongly related to the relative abundance of parasite species in blackbirds, Turdus merula (Biard et al., 2010).

Infection can have a negative impact on

General Context and Expected Host Responses

Mate choice for mate quality, linked to a criterion such as social status, individual size, ornamental traits or infection status, is widely accepted as a mechanism by which individuals can maximize their fitness and/or offspring quality (Dillen et al., 2010, Moreau et al., 2001, Peretti and Cordobon-Aguilar, 2007).

In this context, the expected host responses to infection in terms of mate choice are as follows.

(1) Infection avoidance and choice of parasite-free mates are expected even if the

Conclusion

Host responses to infection tend towards infection avoidance and choice of parasite-free mates. There are, however, some notable exceptions, such as when the costs of mate choice hinder the development of infection avoidance.

Infection can significantly modify an individual's phenotypic characteristics (from molecules to sexual traits), inducing a potential reduction in the individual's fitness. However, few biological models have been studied to identify the molecules involved in mate choice

Acknowledgments

We thank Mathieu Sicard, Nicolas Bech, David Puga, Alexander Hurley and the referees for their constructive comments and their help in improving our manuscript. We also thank Version Originale for checking the English in the paper.

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EssayImpact of infection on mate choice

Highlights

Section snippets

Effect of Infection on Sexual Traits

General Context and Expected Host Responses

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Animal Behaviour

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews

Physiology & Behavior

Behavioural Processes

Animal Behaviour

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Animal Behaviour

Hormones and Behavior

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Animal Behaviour

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Advances in Immunology

Journal of Theoretical Biology

Animal Behaviour

Infection, Genetics and Evolution

Animal Behaviour

Journal of Theoretical Biology

The contagion indicator hypothesis for parasite-mediated sexual selection

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA

Parasite levels in blue-black grassquits correlate with male displays but not female mate preference

Behavioral Ecology

Sexual advertisement and immune function in an arachnid species (Lycosidae)

Behavioral Ecology

Sexual selection

Genetic dissimilarity between mates, but not male heterozygosity, influences divorce in schistosomes

PLoS One

Carotenoid-based bill colour is an integrative signal of multiple parasite infection in blackbird

Naturwissenschaften

The evolution of male mate choice in insects: a synthesis of ideas and evidence

Biological Reviews

A theory of mate choice based on heterozygosity

Behavioral Ecology

Effects of parasitic infection on mate sampling by female wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo): should infected females be more or less choosy?

Behavioral Ecology

Mate preference and mating behavior of male Helicoverpa zea (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) infected with the sexually transmitted insect virus Hz-2V

Annals of the Entomological Society of America

The use of multiple cues in mate choice

Biological Reviews

Can cytoplasmic incompatibility inducing Wolbachia promote the evolution of mate preferences?

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

Taxonomic and sensory biases in the mate-choice literature: there are far too few studies of chemical and multimodal communication

Acta Ethologica

Parasitism: The ecology and evolution of intimate interactions

‘Cryptic’ direct benefits of mate choice: choosy females experience reduced predation risk while in precopula

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

Protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii manipulates mate choice in rats by enhancing attractiveness of males

PLoS One

Hormonal alterations and reproductive inhibition in male fence lizards (Sceloporus occidentalis) infected with the malarial parasite Plasmodium mexicanum

Physiological Zoology

Female mice mate preferentially with non-parasitized males

Parasitology

Female mice preference: does Trypanosoma cruzi affect males' scent?

Interciencia

Female preference and male nuptial colouration in the freshwater fish Gobiomorphus breviceps: geographic variation among populations

Canadian Journal of Zoology

Heritable true fitness and bright birds: a role for parasites?

Science

Mate choice in captive American kestrels, Falco sparverius, parasitized by a nematode, Trichinella pseudospiralis

Ethology

Essay
Impact of infection on mate choice