Fish
Mate choice in a social network
PhD project of Dipl. Biol. Sabine Nöbel
So far, most modeks in sexual selection assume that female and male mate preferences for certain traits are genetically determined. However, there is increasing evidence that non-genetic factors like the social environment (public information) can have an eminent influence on mate-choice decisions. One mechanism of gaining public information from signalling interactions between conspecifics and occurs when informatiob from an animal transmitting a signal to another individual is picked up by one or more bystanders towards whom the signal was not directed.
One form of eavesdropping in the context of mate choice is mate-choice copying. Mate-choice copying occrs when an eavesdropper observes a sexual interaction between two heterosexual conspecifics. The eavesdropper might then copy the mate choice of others by preferring the same individual as a mate, or rejecting the same individual as the interacting individual did before. Particularly, mate-choice copying occurs when it is hard to choose between two mates (because of same size, colouring etc.).
