Data from: Liking the good guys: amplifying local adaptation via the evolution of condition-dependent mate choice

Because trait variation is limited when migration is rare and the benefits of preferential mating are short-lived when migration is frequent, we find that female preferences for males in high condition spread most rapidly with intermediate levels of migration. Surprisingly, we find that preferences for locally adapted males spread fastest with higher recombination rates, which contrasts with earlier studies. This is because a stronger preference allele for locally adapted males can only get uncoupled from maladapted ecological alleles following migration through recombination.

The effects of migration and recombination depend strongly on the condition of the males being chosen by females, but only weakly on the condition of the females doing the choosing, except when it comes to the costs of preference. While costs always impede the spread of female preferences for locally adapted males, the impact is substantially lessened if costs are borne primarily by females in poor condition. The abundance of empirical examples of condition-dependent mate choice combined with our theoretical results suggests that the evolution of mate choice could commonly facilitate local adaptation in nature.

Usage notes

Veen and Otto Mathematica Workbook Mathematica 8.0.4 workbook titled “Veen and Otto Mathematica Workbook.nb” describing the model and analyses.