Journal cover in "Evolution" and the role of learned mate preferences in population divergence

Most of you have already seen this - but I post it again in case somebody missed it. We've got the journal cover in the November 2010 issue of Evolution, featuring our article about learned mate preferences in the banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens). This paper has also been highlighted by the popular science site Science Daily, and it will also be covered in a popular science radio programme in Germany, since I was recently interviewed about the study by a journalist from our southern neighboring country.

Apart from our own article, the same issue contains a number of interesting other articles about sexual selection, most notably Richard Prums paper about null models in sexual selection in which he argues that the Lande-Kirkpatrick (NK)-model as the most appropriate such null model, a paper we discussed at the lab-meeting last week. Here is the title and abstract of our own paper:


A ROLE FOR LEARNING IN POPULATION DIVERGENCE OF MATE PREFERENCES  


Erik I. Svensson, Fabrice Eroukhmanoff, Kristina Karlsson, Anna Runemark & Anders Brodin

Article first published online: 13 JUL 2010

DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01085.x

Learning and other forms of phenotypic plasticity have been suggested to enhance population divergence. Mate preferences can develop by learning, and species recognition might not be entirely genetic. We present data on female mate preferences of the banded demoiselle (Calopteryx splendens) that suggest a role for learning in population divergence and species recognition. Populations of this species are either allopatric or sympatric with a phenotypically similar congener (C. virgo). These two species differ mainly in the amount of wing melanization in males, and wing patches thus mediate sexual isolation. In sympatry, sexually experienced females discriminate against large melanin wing patches in heterospecific males. In contrast, in allopatric populations within the same geographic region, females show positive (“open-ended”) preferences for such large wing patches. Virgin C. splendens females do not discriminate against heterospecific males. Moreover, physical exposure experiments of such virgin females to con- or hetero-specific males significantly influences their subsequent mate preferences. Species recognition is thus not entirely genetic and it is partly influenced by interactions with mates. Learning causes pronounced population divergence in mate preferences between these weakly genetically differentiated populations, and results in a highly divergent pattern of species recognition at a small geographic scale.

Lab meeting: 21 April 2010 at 10:15am, Darwin room

Good morning everybody,

We will have a lab meeting this week. Two things are on the agenda:
1) Fabrice has been invited to give a seminar in Linköping and would like to get your feedback on his presentation. He will speak about

Joint effects of migration modification and assortative mating in the early stages of ecological speciation

Fabrice Eroukhmanoff, Anders Hargeby & Erik I. Svensson

ABSTRACT: The question of how diverging populations might become separate species by restraining gene flow is a central issue in evolutionary biology. Assortative mating might emerge early during divergence, but migration modification can also play an important role in speciation. We demonstrate that two recently diverged ecotypes of a freshwater isopod have rapidly developed pre-mating isolation. This is consistent with ecological speciation theory, which predicts that sexual isolation arises as a byproduct of ecological divergence. However, migration modification acts as the main barrier to gene flow, although the joint emergence of these two isolating mechanisms has facilitated adaptive divergence. These results underscore that migration modification might be as important as assortative mating in the early stages of ecological speciation.

2) Tina would like to get your input on some 'work in progress'. Please email me under Maren.wellenreuther@zooekol.lu.se to get the attachments - if you have not received them already.

Any fika volunteers for this week? See you all on Wednesday, Maren

Lab-meeting on November 25: signalling sexual and species identity

On Wednesday (November 25), I was thinking that we should do two things during our weekly lab-meeting:

1. We will start by discussing the Nature-paper by Billeter et al. of how Drosophila males and females signal sex and species identity using pheromones ("CHC:s").

Tom Gosden wrote about this paper in an earlier bloggpost, and it seems quite exciting also to those of us who are not particularly interested in pheromone communication. Signalling sex and species identity is clearly a general problem of interest to many evolutionary biologists, and not only those working with Drosophila. The paper can be downloaded here.

2. We will also give Anna Runemark som input on her "half-time seminar" that will take place next week at the Animal Ecology department meeting. Anna brings her laptop and some idéas of her presentation, and the rest of us provide feedback to help her.

Same time and place as usual: "Darwin"-room at 10.00, Wednesday November 25. Any fika-volunteer?