title: Modelling the evolution of female choice strategies under inbreeding conditions.
abstract: Recently, many mate choice studies have discussed the role of genetic compatibility and inbreeding for the evolution of mate choice. With population genetic simulations I compared the potential advantage of three different female choice strategies under inbreeding conditions. Females were assumed to benefit indirectly via a preference for (i) complementary males, (ii) males with few detrimental mutations, and (iii) non-inbred males. Probably related to the reduced inbreeding depression in offspring of choosy females, the choice-allele increased for all three strategies. However, the advantage of the strategies differed widely. Choice of males with fewer mutations provided a comparatively large advantage, choice of complementary males led to a reasonable advantage, and choice of non-inbred males only resulted in a minor advantage of female choice. My results show that complementary mate choice can be almost as beneficial as conventional good-genes choice of mates with lower genetic load. Compared to the two other mate choice strategies, choice of non-inbred males is less likely to contribute to the evolution of costly mate choice. The results of a recent study showing that female sticklebacks prefer males with a larger number of MHC-loci is thus unlikely to be related to an indirect benefit of choosing non-inbred males.
authors.affiliation: Evolution and Ecology, University of Bonn, An der Immenburg 1, D-53121 Bonn, Germany. kreinhold@evolution.uni-bonn.de
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Reinhold
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005260:Female; D007178:Inbreeding; D008957:Models, Genetic; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal