MATE CHOICE OR HARASSMENT AVOIDANCE - A QUESTION OF FEMALE CONTROL ATTHE LEK

Recent studies on the reproductive behavior of fallow deer Dama dama, propose that harassment from nonterritorial males has a major influenc e on female movements and mate selection, leading ultimately to the ev olution of lek mating in this species. In order to support this statem ent, one must demonstrate that female movements between lek and isolat ed territories, and among lek males, lend to a reduction In levels of harassment. We argue that current evidence in favor of this view is in conclusive. A quantification of the total harassment costs experienced by females in lek and isolated territories has never been made. In ad dition, female movements within the lek may actually lead to higher le vels of disruption and harassment: The rate at which females join male territories increases with harem sire (the number of females present in the territory), even though harems are disrupted increasingly with sire due to a higher frequency of intrusions by nonterritorial males. Females also join male territories at a higher rate while these males are engaged in copulatory sequences, but copulatory sequences are agai n associated with high levels of disruption and harem instability. In the above studies it is argued that females are nonselective in their mating preferences. This assessment is based on the finding that males that adopt different reproductive strategies do not differ in their m ating rates. In the mating rate is measured as the number of copulatio ns received per female-hour: There are a number of reasons, however; w hy females exhibiting mating preferences might remain longer with pref erred males, and so the above preference measure cannot be used to exc lude tile possibility that females are selective. More research is req uired to identify the major factors influencing patterns of mate selec tion and the evolution of leks in this species. we suggest a number of field tests that may help to identify these factors.