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Sex ratio dynamics and fluctuating selection pressures in natural populations of the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata

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Abstract

In many species, population sex ratios have far-reaching consequences for a wide variety of population-level and behavioural processes and can directly influence sexual selection through differential effects on male and female mating behaviour. Although sex ratios are often treated as more or less stable population characteristics, recent theoretical evidence suggests that sex ratios fluctuate under many conditions, and that the amplitude of these fluctuations can be considerable. Few studies have attempted to quantify this variation in systems with prominent, sex ratio-dependent sexual conflict. One of the species with the greatest potential to integrate these factors in the wild is the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata. In this study, we quantified natural sex ratio variation both as detailed longitudinal studies of focal guppy populations and as snapshot estimates across a range of freshwater habitats. In line with theoretical predictions, we expected to detect significant sex ratio variation over time. We also investigated the association between juvenile and adult sex ratios to quantify a possible compensatory feedback implied in standard models of sex ratio evolution. Our results confirm that population-level sex ratios in wild guppy populations have a range of dynamic features, with all four focal populations showing significant variation in sex ratio over time. The survey showed that juveniles were generally close to equal (50:50) sex ratios whereas 7 out of 11 adult sex ratios differed significantly from equality. We found no evidence that a surplus of juveniles of the locally rarer sex had been produced. The results indicate that sex ratios and hence the balance between sexual selection and sexual coercion is normally fluctuating in nature, despite juvenile ratios being close to equality.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Meteorological Services, Piarco International Airport, Trinidad and Tobago for providing meteorological data, Joakim Larsson for histological advice and Jill McVee for help processing samples. This study was supported by the Hellmuth Hertz’ Foundation (L.B.P.), The Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education (L.B.P.) and the Natural Environment Research Council UK (S.A.B. and A.E.M.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology, Lund University, Ecology Building, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden

    Lars B. Pettersson

  2. Gatty Marine Laboratory, School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 8LB, Scotland, UK

    Lars B. Pettersson, S. Anette Becher & Anne E. Magurran

  3. Department of Life Sciences, University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago

    Indar W. Ramnarine & Rajindra Mahabir

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  1. Lars B. Pettersson
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  2. Indar W. Ramnarine
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  3. S. Anette Becher
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  4. Rajindra Mahabir
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  5. Anne E. Magurran
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Correspondence to Lars B. Pettersson.

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Communicated by J. Krause

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Pettersson, L.B., Ramnarine, I.W., Becher, S.A. et al. Sex ratio dynamics and fluctuating selection pressures in natural populations of the Trinidadian guppy, Poecilia reticulata . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 55, 461–468 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-003-0727-8

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