Even though female mate preferences did not seem to be affected by either foraging technique or foraging performance in our mate choice apparatus tests, outside our experimental context females may still choose mates that are more efficient in learning a novel foraging technique by assessing the males' songs.
Furthermore, mating preferences for particular trait values do not appear to predict patterns of mating isolation in high-predation females, which provides further support to rejection the by-product hypothesis in favour of reinforcement in high-predation.
Another potential indirect benefit from mating preferences is genetic compatibility, which does not require extravagant or viability indicator traits.
Overall, in these studies, the two ultimate key questions researchers attempt to answer are: (i) how do mating preferences influence the evolution of morphology, and (ii) how do selective pressures shape mating preferences?
To do this, we measured mating preferences and recorded mate characteristics for both partners in 116 couples sampled in Montpellier (France).
Importantly, our methodology does not seem to bias the estimation of mating preferences since estimated preferences for BMI are qualitatively similar to preferences reported in other studies that rely on other protocols [e.g. 21], [46].
That is, what genes function and how do they evolve to shape 'harmoniously polymorphic' secondary sexual characters and mating preferences?
In addition, both mating preferences and mating patterns have been extensively studied in this species.
To conclude, these findings illustrate the fact that little can be predicted about mating patterns from the simple observation of mating preferences, and reciprocally, little can be predicted about mating preferences from the simple observation of mating patterns.
That is why researchers often deduce mating preferences from outcomes of traditional pairwise mate choice experiments [8], [9].
