RUI: Signals of genetic quality and mate choice

California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks CA

Investigators

Abstract

In some species, males display traits that may provide information about their quality to potential female mates, and variation in those traits drives females to choose or avoid those males as mates. This study examines whether seasonal fat increase in wild nonhuman primate males is related to their reproductive success. This project advances knowledge about the evolution of physiology and sociality in our nonhuman primate relatives. This project also fosters the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM by providing mentored research to historically underrepresented groups such as first-generation students, low-income students, and students of color at Hispanic Serving Institutions. Undergraduate students work to collect and analyze field data and assist in the dissemination of the project findings. This project provides mentored research and field-based experiences, unique training opportunities for these students, and supports conservation of wild primates and their habitats through activities at the local level through educational outreach. This work provides new insight into sexual selection by examining the relationships among signals of mate quality, a measurement of genetic quality, and mate choice in a wild nonhuman primate. The research team integrates behavioral data collected in the field and molecular methods used in the laboratory to examine the reproductive consequences of individual variation in seasonal male fat increase, and test whether this variation is related to variation in Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) genes. Specifically, this project determines parent-offspring relationships and uses behavioral and genetic data to assess whether male fattening is a product of female choice, and thus an honest indicator of one marker of genetic quality, or a product of male-male competition and therefore decoupled from male MHC diversity. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.