Guppies in Trinidad show how a male’s social environment can affect his choice of mate, according to the research of a biology PhD candidate studying at Carleton.
Heather Auld, 29, is using guppies as a model species to study how a male’s social environment can affect choice of partner.
Auld’s research on the wild fish is being supervised by Jean-Guy Godin. She has also done collaborations with colleagues at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad.
Auld said guppies are ideal for this type of research because “they are highly social and promiscuous.”
She said while they mate publicly, making them easy to observe, scarce research has been done in the area.
“Compared to female mate choice, little work has been done to understand male mate choice,” she said.
She said she uses these fish to experimentally show through testing that males will alter their initial mate preference to a non-preferred female if the guppy notices that another male is paying attention to her.
“Males change their mate preference to an initially non-preferred female when being watched by an audience of potential sexual rivals, but not while being watched by an audience of non-rivals,” she said.
The research showed a male’s preference can shift, depending on how attractive and competitive the male social environment is.
Auld said her research has many applications.
“Together with other work, this will contribute to our understanding of patterns and trends relating to male mate choice in the natural world,” Auld said. “Some of which may also apply to humans.”
