title: Poison frog color morphs express assortative mate preferences in allopatry but not sympatry.
abstract: The concurrent divergence of mating traits and preferences is necessary for the evolution of reproductive isolation via sexual selection, and such coevolution has been demonstrated in diverse lineages. However, the extent to which assortative mate preferences are sufficient to drive reproductive isolation in nature is less clear. Natural contact zones between lineages divergent in traits and preferences provide exceptional opportunities for testing the predicted evolutionary consequences of such divergence. The strawberry poison frog (Oophaga pumilio) displays extreme color polymorphism in and around the young Bocas del Toro archipelago. In a transition zone between red and blue allopatric lineages, we asked whether female preferences diverged along with coloration, and whether any divergent preferences persist in a zone of sympatry. When choosing among red, blue and phenotypically intermediate males, females from monomorphic red and monomorphic blue populations both expressed assortative preferences. However, red, blue, and intermediate females from the contact zone all preferred red males, suggesting that divergent preferences may be insufficient to effect behavioral isolation. Our results highlight the complexity of behavioral isolation, and the need for studies that can reveal the circumstances under which divergent preferences do and do not contribute to speciation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, 70118.|Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15260.|Current Address: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, 2429 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15260.
authors.forename: Yusan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, 70118.|Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 15260.|Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Republica de Panama.
authors.forename: Corinne L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Richards-Zawacki
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, 70118.
authors.forename: Anisha
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Devar
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106.
authors.forename: Matthew B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Dugas
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001001:Anura / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D003116:Color; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D010858:Pigmentation; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D060047:Reproductive Isolation; D061350:Sympatry
keywords: Behavioral isolation; contact zone; female preference; polymorphism; speciation