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Linking male qualities to multiple display traits: an example in a fish with exclusive male care

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Abstract

Recent theoretical models predict that the relative allocation to advertisement and parental care depends on whether paternal care is necessary for offspring survival: In species with exclusive male care, male investment in attraction is expected to reliably indicate paternal care effort and male phenotypic quality. Previous research, yielding contrasting results, has considered how one trait involved in mate attraction interacts with parental care or a specific aspect of male quality. In the blenny Salaria pavo, we perform a comprehensive analysis of the interplay between overall male attractiveness and male quality, the latter in terms of fertility, condition, and parental care. In this fish, males are larger than females, exhibit two sexually dimorphic traits (head crest and anal glands), and solely care for eggs. We generated a male attractiveness index through principal component analyses of morphological traits and quantified parental effort as the total time spent in egg care. In addition, we analyzed the relationships between specific components of attractiveness and male qualities. In agreement with theory predictions, we found that male overall attractiveness is a reliable indicator of fertility, in terms of sperm number, but is unrelated to body condition and parental care effort, with males able to perform high levels of care regardless of their level of advertisement. However, the relative expression of head crest area appears positively related to sperm number but is traded-off with parental care effort. These findings underline the need, in addressing real patterns, to consider interactions between multiple aspects of male display and quality.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to S. Alonzo and C. Mazzoldi for the valuable comments on the manuscript and to the staff of the Chioggia Hydrobiological Station for the assistance.

Ethical standards

This study was carried out in accordance with current Italian regulations for the use of animals in scientific procedures. All experimental animals safely survived the analyses and were released at their capture sites.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Padova, via U. Bassi 58/B, Padova, Italy

    Matteo Pizzolon, Lisa Locatello, Nicole Chimento & Maria B. Rasotto

  2. Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106-9620, USA

    Robert R. Warner

  3. Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padova, via C.Battisti 241/243, Padova, Italy

    Livio Finos

Authors
  1. Matteo Pizzolon
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  2. Lisa Locatello
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  3. Robert R. Warner
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  4. Nicole Chimento
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  5. Livio Finos
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  6. Maria B. Rasotto
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria B. Rasotto.

Additional information

Communicated by D. Croft

Matteo Pizzolon and Lisa Locatello equally contributed to this work.

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Pizzolon, M., Locatello, L., Warner, R.R. et al. Linking male qualities to multiple display traits: an example in a fish with exclusive male care. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 66, 497–504 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-011-1296-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-011-1296-x

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