The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide
Because of differential investment in gametes between sexes, females tend to be the more selective sex. Based on this concept, we investigate mate selection in a large carnivore: the brown bear (Ursus arctos). We hypothesize that, in this species with sexually selected infanticide (SSI), females may...
Published in: | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:1560043 2023-05-15T18:42:05+02:00 The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide Bellemain, Eva Zedrosser, Andreas Manel, Stéphanie Waits, Lisette P Taberlet, Pierre Swenson, Jon E 2005-11-03 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560043 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16543170 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3331 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560043 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16543170 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3331 © 2005 The Royal Society Research Article Text 2005 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3331 2013-08-31T06:18:55Z Because of differential investment in gametes between sexes, females tend to be the more selective sex. Based on this concept, we investigate mate selection in a large carnivore: the brown bear (Ursus arctos). We hypothesize that, in this species with sexually selected infanticide (SSI), females may be faced with a dilemma: either select a high-quality partner based on phenotypic criteria, as suggested by theories of mate choice, or rather mate with future potentially infanticidal males as a counter-strategy to SSI. We evaluated which male characteristics were important in paternity assignment. Among males available in the vicinity of the females, the largest, most heterozygous and less inbred and also the geographically closest males were more often the fathers of the female's next litter. We suggest that female brown bears may select the closest males as a counter-strategy to infanticide and exercise a post-copulatory cryptic choice, based on physical attributes, such as a large body size, reflecting male genetic quality. However, male–male competition either in the form of fighting before copulation or during the post-copulatory phase, in the form of sperm competition, cannot entirely be ruled out. Text Ursus arctos PubMed Central (PMC) Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 273 1584 283 291 |
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Research Article Bellemain, Eva Zedrosser, Andreas Manel, Stéphanie Waits, Lisette P Taberlet, Pierre Swenson, Jon E The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
Because of differential investment in gametes between sexes, females tend to be the more selective sex. Based on this concept, we investigate mate selection in a large carnivore: the brown bear (Ursus arctos). We hypothesize that, in this species with sexually selected infanticide (SSI), females may be faced with a dilemma: either select a high-quality partner based on phenotypic criteria, as suggested by theories of mate choice, or rather mate with future potentially infanticidal males as a counter-strategy to SSI. We evaluated which male characteristics were important in paternity assignment. Among males available in the vicinity of the females, the largest, most heterozygous and less inbred and also the geographically closest males were more often the fathers of the female's next litter. We suggest that female brown bears may select the closest males as a counter-strategy to infanticide and exercise a post-copulatory cryptic choice, based on physical attributes, such as a large body size, reflecting male genetic quality. However, male–male competition either in the form of fighting before copulation or during the post-copulatory phase, in the form of sperm competition, cannot entirely be ruled out. |
format |
Text |
author |
Bellemain, Eva Zedrosser, Andreas Manel, Stéphanie Waits, Lisette P Taberlet, Pierre Swenson, Jon E |
author_facet |
Bellemain, Eva Zedrosser, Andreas Manel, Stéphanie Waits, Lisette P Taberlet, Pierre Swenson, Jon E |
author_sort |
Bellemain, Eva |
title |
The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide |
title_short |
The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide |
title_full |
The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide |
title_fullStr |
The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide |
title_full_unstemmed |
The dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide |
title_sort |
dilemma of female mate selection in the brown bear, a species with sexually selected infanticide |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560043 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16543170 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3331 |
genre |
Ursus arctos |
genre_facet |
Ursus arctos |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1560043 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16543170 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3331 |
op_rights |
© 2005 The Royal Society |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2005.3331 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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273 |
container_issue |
1584 |
container_start_page |
283 |
op_container_end_page |
291 |
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1766231699022151680 |