Test of indirect models of selection in the trinidad guppy

Abstract

Indirect models for the evolution of female preference assume that preference does not evolve as a result of direct selection but rather through genetic correlations with positively selected male traits. An essential assumption of Fisherian models and many recent good genes models is that assortative mating causes a genetic correlation to develop between alleles conferring high preference and alleles conferring high levels of the male attractive phenotype. In a direct test of indirect selection models, mass selection on attractive male coloration did not result in a correlated response in female preference in replicate treatments from a high predation population of the Trinidad guppy. The response was consistently low and a power analysis showed that genetic drift was not likely to explain the low response across all replicates. These results contrast with studies demonstrating such a correlation in another population of guppies and in three-spined sticklebacks. © 1994 The Genetical Society of Great Britain.