Cultural influences on female mate choice: an experimental test in cowbirds, Molothrus ater

Previous studies of brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater, have shown that social learning and cultural transmission can influence courtship and matin g patterns. These earlier studies did not test whether cultural background influenced mate choice in females and therefore whether culture could poten tially play a role in sexual selection in this species, as has been suggest ed by recent theory. Here, we tested whether culture influences female mate choice in brown-headed cowbirds. Female cowbirds from a South Dakota popul ation were housed with adult cowbirds from the same South Dakota population or with adult cowbirds from a behaviourally distinct population from India na. We tested the mating preferences of females of the South Dakota culture and females of the Indiana culture in sequential mate-choice trials with m ales, controlling for intrasexual interactions. The males were South Dakota cowbirds that had also been housed either in the South Dakota culture or i n the Indiana culture. Females showed mating preferences for males from the ir own culture. These results suggest that mate choice in female cowbirds c an be influenced by cultural background. We briefly discuss the effect that culture may have on sexual selection and on the evolution of female mating preferences. (C) 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.