Females bet on the known: crayfish females recognize and prefer males from familiar population, males are not picky

摘要

Reproductive behaviour is a central pattern in animals and understanding mate choice is among major challenges in behavioural and ecological studies. Mate choice is often based on recognition of conspecifics, their physiological state and social experiences, which play important roles in decision making. In crayfish, females are choosier than males because of their higher energy costs for reproduction (oogenesis, incubation, parental care). We analysed mate preferences of the spiny-cheek crayfish (Faxonius limosus) where the choosing crayfish was faced with two similarly sized mature counterparts or different origin (three geographically separated populations were used). Both sexes were presented either with a single familiar and unfamiliar counterpart or with two unfamiliar ones, reflecting the source population. Our results suggest that females are able to recognize and prefer mates from the familiar population, whereas males do not exhibit any specific preference. Chemical communication is the most possible driver but the mechanism of recognition at population level is not known. The specific population microbiome may be contributing to this pattern.