Male-mediated early maturation unlikely to evolve via adaptive evolution.

Autor: Lerch BA; Department of Biology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC, U.S.A., Zipple MN; Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, U.S.A., Gesquiere LR; Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, U.S.A., Sloan ET; Plant Conservation and Population Biology Group, Department of Biology, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium., Beehner JC; Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A.; Department of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A., Alberts SC; Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC, U.S.A.; Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC, U.S.A.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Animal behaviour [Anim Behav] 2024 Aug; Vol. 214, pp. 219-240. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jul 09.
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2024.06.002
Abstrakt: The Vandenbergh effect, or male-mediated maturation, occurs when females reach sexual maturation upon exposure to a novel male. Male-mediated maturation is found across mammals, including in geladas, Theropithecus gelada , where it may be an adaptive counterstrategy to infanticide that follows the immigration of a new male; maturing after male immigration maximizes a female's chances of weaning her first offspring before the next infanticidal male immigrates (the 'optimal timing hypothesis'). Alternatively, the nonadaptive 'Bruce effect by-product hypothesis' posits that male-mediated maturation in geladas (and possibly other mammals) is triggered by the same physiological changes that, in pregnant females, produce spontaneous abortion (the Bruce effect). We test both hypotheses using theory and observational data. We show that neither male-mediated maturation nor its associated hormonal changes occur in baboons ( Papio cynocephalus × P. anubis ), a primate without the Bruce effect. An individual-based model suggests that male-mediated maturation should not evolve via adaptive evolution in either geladas or baboons. Finally, we derive the selection coefficient for male-mediated maturation and show it is likely to be very small because male-mediated maturation yields only marginal potential benefits unless the system is extremely fine-tuned. We conclude that male-mediated maturation in geladas is a by-product of the Bruce effect and more broadly that the Vandenbergh effect may be nonadaptive.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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