Female Choice and the Heritability of Attractive Male Traits: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Many authors have hypothesized that in mating systems in which males do not offer resources or parental care to their mates and/or offspring, female choice is based on heritable male traits. Although the validity of this hypothesis has been questioned on theoretical grounds, recent empirical evidence suggests that male traits preferred by females might be heritable. Moreover, models for the evolution of female choice incorporate the heritability of preferred male traits as a necessary assumption. Here, I test the hypothesis that preferred male traits are heritable, using quantitative genetics to measure the heritability of calling-bout length in male field crickets (Gryllus integer). Previous experiments showed that females of this species use the length of the males'' calling bouts to discriminate among potential mates. In the present study, father-son regressions and full-sib correlations gave a mean estimated heritability of 74% for calling-bout length. These results demonstrate that male traits on which female preferences are based can be heritable.