Parasites and Mate Choice in Gray Treefrogs,Hyla versicolor

Mate choice

If you are interested in the diversity of life, you can not ignore the plethora of striking behaviors and morphologies that have been the handiwork of sexual selection. The peacock’s tail is one emblematic result, but a compendium would also include: the songs of birds, frogs, and crickets, the brilliant colors of fishes and corals, the complex odors of moths and mustelids, and the differences ...

Mate Choice and Learning

Mate Choice in Parasitized

Synopsis. A recent model by Hamilton and Zuk (1982) suggests that exaggerated sec? ondary sexual traits facilitate mate choice for genetic resistance to parasites. The model predicts that individuals discriminate against parasitized mates by scrutinizing traits indicative of parasite load. In the case of birds and their feather-feeding lice, for example, individuals might avoid parasitized mate...

Glucocorticoids in Mate Choice

Stress hormones and mate choice.

A few recent studies have suggested that glucocorticoid stress hormones can play a role in sexual selection. In terms of mate choice, these studies have shown that individuals can exhibit preferences for mates with either low baseline or peak glucocorticoid levels. This appears to occur because stress hormones can be key mediators of many condition-dependent, sexually selected traits that serve...