Description
Research on mate choice has mainly focused on sexual selection before mating or after mating, but their interlink has been largely overlooked. We aimed to understand whether pre- and post-copulatory female choices reinforce each other or not to shed light on their relative importance in the zebrafish. Firstly, we determined the female pre-copulatory preference between two males based on smell. Our previous study revealed that zebrafish relay, when choosing a mate, on olfactory cues that convey information about MHC compatibility with females willing to maximize the resistance of offspring towards potential infections. Then we investigated whether the female reproductive fluid (FRF) has different effects on the sperm of the two males. From previous studies, we know that the FRF affects different parameters of sperm velocity and has effects the outcome of sperm competition. Therefore, we collected the FRF from all females and the sperms of all males. For each male, we measured sperm velocity (motility and longevity over time) with and without FRF. Then, using an ad hoc developed device, we measured the sperm viability in two conditions, with and without FRF. Our results suggest that the FRF mediates female cryptic choice and that the males preferred by the females based on their odour (pre-copulatory choice) are not the same whose ejaculates are favored during cryptic female choice (post-copulatory choice); thus, the two selections seem to act in opposite directions.| Period | 3 Sept 2024 → 6 Sept 2024 |
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| Event title | XXX Annual meeting of the Italian Ethological Society |
| Event type | Conference |
| Location | Torino, ItalyShow on map |
Keywords
- mate choice
- sexual selection
- female reproductive fluid
- zebrafish