ArticlePloS one2018
Personality differentially affects individual mate choice decisions in female and male Western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis).
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The better, the choosier: A meta-analysis on interindividual variation of male mate choice.Ecology letters · 2022Pooled it
- Behavioral trait (co)variances and plasticity in response to turbidity in wild zebrafish (Danio rerio).Biology open · 2026Article
- Sexual Selection in Mosquitofish: Differences in the Use of Mating Cues Between Sexes.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Breeding Partners Have Dissimilar Foraging Strategies in a Long-Lived Arctic Seabird.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Mate Choice in Western Mosquitofish (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Sex Differences in Mate Choice Preference Characteristics ofAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Male mate choice in mosquitofish: personality outweighs body size.Frontiers in zoology · 2022Article
- Size Selective Harvesting Does Not Result in Reproductive Isolation among Experimental Lines of Zebrafish,Biology · 2021Article
- Article
- Behavioural and life-history responses of mosquitofish to biologically inspired and interactive robotic predators.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2019Article
- Predator-induced changes of male and female mating preferences: innate and learned components.Current zoology · 2019Article
- The effect of individual state on the strength of mate choice in females and males.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
- Inbreeding strategies under social and sexual complexity: insights from female and male guppies.Behavioral ecology : official journal of the International Society for Behavioral EcologyArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
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Abstract
Consistent individual differences in behavioral tendencies (animal personality) can affect individual mate choice decisions. We asked whether personality traits affect male and female mate choice decisions similarly and whether potential personality effects are consistent across different mate choice situations. Using western mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) as our study organism, we characterized focal individuals (males and females) twice for boldness, activity, and sociability/shoaling and found high and significant behavioral repeatability. Additionally, each focal individual was tested in two different dichotomous mate choice tests in which it could choose between computer-animated stimulus fish of the opposite sex that differed in body size and activity levels, respectively. Personality had different effects on female and male mate choice: females that were larger than average showed stronger preferences for large-bodied males with increasing levels of boldness/activity (i.e., towards more proactive personality types). Males that were larger than average and had higher shoaling tendencies showed stronger preferences for actively swimming females. Size-dependent effects of personality on the strength of preferences for distinct phenotypes of potential mating partners may reflect effects of age/experience (especially in females) and social dominance (especially in males). Previous studies found evidence for assortative mate choice based on personality types or hypothesized the existence of behavioral syndromes of individuals' choosiness across mate choice criteria, possibly including other personality traits. Our present study exemplifies that far more complex patterns of personality-dependent mate choice can emerge in natural systems.
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