Finding a decent, honest mate is challenging enough without the added problem of reduced visibility caused by human-induced changes to the aquatic environment.
Yet this is precisely the sort of dilemma female stickleback fish are facing in the Baltic Sea, according to a recent study published in the August issue of the American Naturalist by Dr. Bob Wong, an Australian researcher from Monash University, and his Scandinavian colleagues, Dr. Ulrika Candolin from the University of Uppsala and Dr. Kai Linstrom from the Åbo Akademi in Finland.
An increase in nutrient input in the Baltic is compromising water clarity by promoting algal blooms. Dr. Wong and his colleagues were interested in finding out whether this, in turn, might lead to a break down in the honesty of sexual displays used by male sticklebacks to attract females. They did so by examining the courtship effort of good and poor condition males in the absence and presence of a rival male in both clear sea water and water rendered turbid by algae.
“Under reduced visibility caused by the presence of algae, poor quality males are able to lie about their physical condition to unsuspecting females by displaying at a higher rate without the risk of attracting the wrath of rival males,” says Dr. Wong. “Since poor condition males are also more likely to eat the eggs that they’re suppose to be tending, this is bad news for females who rely on the honesty of male sexual displays to select mates with superior parental qualities.”
Citation: Bob B. M. Wong, Ulrika Candolin, and Kai Lindström, "Environmental deterioration compromises socially enforced signals of male quality in three-spined sticklebacks" The American Naturalist (2007), volume 170:184–189 DOI: 10.1086/519398
Source: University of Chicago
Related stories:
Fish diet to avoid fights
People diet to look more attractive. Fish diet to avoid being beaten up, thrown out of their social group - and getting eaten as a result.
Elevated concentrations of metals in China’s e-waste recycling workshops
In a case study on how not to recycle electronic waste (e-waste), scientists in the United States and Hong Kong have documented serious environmental contamination with potentially toxic metals from crude e-waste recycling in a village located in southeast China.
Researchers discover how stealthy HIV protein gets into cells
Scientists have known for more than a decade that a protein associated with the HIV virus is good at crossing cell membranes, but they didn’t know how it worked. A multidisciplinary team from the University of Illinois has solved the mystery, and their findings could improve the design of therapeutic agents that cross a variety of membrane types. A paper describing their findings appears this month in
Angewandte Chemie.
Researchers develop new advanced method for measuring protein synthesis
In a major breakthrough for future research and drug development, a team of Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (LA BioMed) investigators developed a new, more reliable method for measuring protein synthesis and turnover, processes that are critical to understanding cellular functions.
Investigating the failure mechanisms of fuel cells will improve their durability
Fuel cells can be expensive and they typically don’t last as long as their internal combustion counterparts.
Methane drizzle on Saturn's moon Titan
Noted for its bizarre hydrocarbon lakes and frozen methane clouds, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, also appears to have widespread drizzles of methane, according to a team of astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley.
Neighborly care keeps stem cells young
A stem cells’ immediate neighborhood, a specialized environment also known as the stem cell niche, provides crucial support needed for stem cell maintenance. But nothing lasts forever, found scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. During the aging process, the level of support drops off, diminishing the stem cells’ ability to replenish themselves (self-renew) indefinitely.
Cystic fibrosis patients may breathe easier, thanks to bioengineered antimicrobials
By better understanding how antimicrobials bind and thereby get inactivated in the mucus of air passages, researchers at the University of Illinois may have found a way to help cystic fibrosis patients fight off deadly infections.