Turbidity Hampers Mate Choice in a Pipefish

European coastal waters have in recent years become more turbid as algal growth has increased, probably due to eutrophication, global warming and changes in fish communities. Turbidity reduces visibility, and such changes may in turn affect animal behaviour as well as evolutionary processes that are...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ethology 2010-08, Vol.116 (8), p.713-721
Main Authors: Sundin, Josefin, Berglund, Anders, Rosenqvist, Gunilla
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Animal behavior
Animal Ecology
Animal reproduction
Biologi
Biology
Coasts
Fish
Marine
NATURAL SCIENCES
NATURVETENSKAP
Syngnathus typhle
Terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecology
Terrestrisk, limnisk och marin ekologi
Zooekologi
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Summary:European coastal waters have in recent years become more turbid as algal growth has increased, probably due to eutrophication, global warming and changes in fish communities. Turbidity reduces visibility, and such changes may in turn affect animal behaviour as well as evolutionary processes that are dependent on visual stimuli. In this study we experimentally manipulated water visibility and olfactory cues to investigate mate choice using the sex role‐reversed broad‐nosed pipefish Syngnathus typhle as our study organism. We show that males spent significantly longer time assessing females when they had access to full visual cues, compared to when visibility was reduced. Presence or absence of olfactory cues from females did not affect mate choice, suggesting that the possible use of smell could not make up for a reduction in visibility. This implies that mate choice is environmentally dependent and that an increased turbidity may affect processes of sexual selection through an impaired possibility for visually based mate choice.
ISSN:0179-1613
1439-0310
1439-0310
DOI:10.1111/j.1439-0310.2010.01787.x