In many mating systems, females mate repeatedly during a reproductive period. Under such conditions, mate choice may involve two distinct phases: initial mate selection and subsequent female fidelity. When males provide parental care, natural selection should favor female mate preferences that result in higher offspring fitness. However, at the beginning of a reproductive period, females cannot directly assess offspring fitness, and so may choose mates based on indicators of potential offspring fitness. Once the initial mate selection has been made, females should be able to assess offspring fitness directly by monitoring the survival of offspring resulting from previous matings. This research will involve a detailed study of female mate choice in the bicolor damselfish, Stegastes partitus, a coral reef fish in which males provide exclusive parental care of eggs. The objectives of this study are to (1) establish the connection, if any, between the initial female choice of a character and the fitness consequences to offspring of the female preference, (2) manipulate the character to establish causality, (3) determine whether subsequent mating decisions are more strongly influenced by direct information on offspring fitness, and (4) manipulate the cue to determine whether female responses do indeed increase subsequent offspring fitness. The research represents one of the first fully integrated studies of mating dynamics.
