title: Cognitive ability is heritable and predicts the success of an alternative mating tactic.
abstract: The ability to attract mates, acquire resources for reproduction, and successfully outcompete rivals for fertilizations may make demands on cognitive traits--the mechanisms by which an animal acquires, processes, stores and acts upon information from its environment. Consequently, cognitive traits potentially undergo sexual selection in some mating systems. We investigated the role of cognitive traits on the reproductive performance of male rose bitterling (Rhodeus ocellatus), a freshwater fish with a complex mating system and alternative mating tactics. We quantified the learning accuracy of males and females in a spatial learning task and scored them for learning accuracy. Males were subsequently allowed to play the roles of a guarder and a sneaker in competitive mating trials, with reproductive success measured using paternity analysis. We detected a significant interaction between male mating role and learning accuracy on reproductive success, with the best-performing males in maze trials showing greater reproductive success in a sneaker role than as a guarder. Using a cross-classified breeding design, learning accuracy was demonstrated to be heritable, with significant additive maternal and paternal effects. Our results imply that male cognitive traits may undergo intra-sexual selection.
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, UK Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, Brno 603 65, Czech Republic cs101@st-andrews.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Carl
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: School of Biology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9TS, UK.
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Philips
authors.affiliation: Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Květná 8, Brno 603 65, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Reichard
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D003530:Cyprinidae / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D019655:Quantitative Trait, Heritable; D012098:Reproduction; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D065853:Spatial Learning
keywords: alternative mating tactics; cognition; learning; mating system; sexual selection