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(1 - 6 of 6)
- Title
- CHOOSING MATES WHO LOOK LIKE OURSELVES.
- Creator
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Gruber, Alyse, Donley, Amy, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Some research suggests that the reason men and women choose mates who are physically similar to them, is because though they may be genetically similar (given the physical characteristics), the fact that there is no kinship allows for genetic stability. Some researchers believe this is a product of evolutionary forces, therefore allowing possible mates to find those whom they would see as compatible and fertile. Researchers have found that as children we imprint our parent's facial features,...
Show moreSome research suggests that the reason men and women choose mates who are physically similar to them, is because though they may be genetically similar (given the physical characteristics), the fact that there is no kinship allows for genetic stability. Some researchers believe this is a product of evolutionary forces, therefore allowing possible mates to find those whom they would see as compatible and fertile. Researchers have found that as children we imprint our parent's facial features, which helps develop the normal facial recognition later. With this knowledge it is suggested that we subconsciously use our parent's facial imprint as our standard for beauty when it comes to finding a mate. As children share a resemblance to their parents, it is not unlikely that as adults, men and women then choose mates who are physically similar to themselves. The current study examined whether men and women look for mates who are physically similar, even if they do not realize it. This study looked at a range of physical characteristics from hair color to height to body type. The wide range of physical characteristics allowed participants to be very specific about the ideal physical features they desire in a mate. It also allowed participants to be specific about their own physical characteristics. The survey was distributed through an online link that was distributed by upper and lower level sociology professors as well as social media sites. The results of this study are important because most research on heterosexual relationships focus on what characteristics each partner are looking to find. However, there is very little research on the phenomena of heterosexual partners choosing a mate who are physically similar.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFH0004602, ucf:45323
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004602
- Title
- THE EFFECT OF LOVESTYLE ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR: ATTRACTING A PARTNER AND FORMING A RELATIONSHIP.
- Creator
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Yeh, Fonda, Massiah, Carolyn, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Erotic stimuli in the consumer's environment can lead to affective responses, which produce traits such as erotophobia-erotophilia and lovestyle. Individuals can be classified as one of six main lovestyles, as well as erotophilic (having a positive view towards sexual behaviors) or erotophobic (having a negative view towards sexual behaviors). A person's style of loving may affect which products he or she perceives to be helpful in attracting potential sexual and relationship partners. I...
Show moreErotic stimuli in the consumer's environment can lead to affective responses, which produce traits such as erotophobia-erotophilia and lovestyle. Individuals can be classified as one of six main lovestyles, as well as erotophilic (having a positive view towards sexual behaviors) or erotophobic (having a negative view towards sexual behaviors). A person's style of loving may affect which products he or she perceives to be helpful in attracting potential sexual and relationship partners. I investigated this possible correlation by examining (1) whether each lovestyle is erotophilic or erotophobic and (2) which products erotophilic individuals are more likely to buy as opposed to those that erotophobic individuals are more likely to buy in (a) attracting sexual partners and (b) attracting relationship partners. The study indicated that lovestyle did not predict erotophobia-erotophilia, nor did the erotophobia-erotophilia trait predict which products an individual bought. However, a significant relationship was found between gender and erotophobia-erotophilia, as well as between gender and many of the products. Overall, the findings suggest that gender is the biggest predictor of what products were perceived as helpful in attracting sexual and relationship partners.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFH0004528, ucf:45168
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004528
- Title
- GEOGRAPHIC VARIATION IN POST-MATING IMMUNE GENE EXPRESSION INDROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER.
- Creator
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Pinzone, Cheryl, Fedorka, Kenneth, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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An organism's immune response may vary due to pathogen pressure in its environment, as well as due to interactions with other organisms. These factors, along with geographic rules (i.e. Gloger's rule) may influence the geographic distribution of the immune response within populations of a species. Here we use real-time quantitative PCR to measure the immune gene expression in six populations collected along the eastern U.S. of Drosophila melanogaster after mating. Antimicrobial genes...
Show moreAn organism's immune response may vary due to pathogen pressure in its environment, as well as due to interactions with other organisms. These factors, along with geographic rules (i.e. Gloger's rule) may influence the geographic distribution of the immune response within populations of a species. Here we use real-time quantitative PCR to measure the immune gene expression in six populations collected along the eastern U.S. of Drosophila melanogaster after mating. Antimicrobial genes did not show significant differences in expression due to location, whereas we did observe differences in anti-fungal and pro-phenoloxidase (anti-macromolecule) related genes. These differences in anti-macromolecule resistance are correlated with the latitude of the population opposite of which we would expect by Gloger's rule. We also determined that males and females from different populations tended to drive the differences we detected. Taken together, these results suggest that geographic factors influence genes involved in fungal and macro-pathogens defense post-mating.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003159, ucf:48617
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003159
- Title
- Testing for indirect benefits of polyandry in the Florida green turtle.
- Creator
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Long, Christopher, Weishampel, John, Ehrhart, Llewellyn, Hoffman, Eric, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Behavioral studies in the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) have indicated that promiscuous mating is commonplace. Though it has been shown that there is much variation in the rate of polyandry (females mating with multiple males), the drivers behind polyandry in this species are unknown. It has been speculated, but never demonstrated, that indirect benefits (fitness benefits resulting from offspring genetic diversity) play a role. However, previous tests of this hypothesis have limited scope of...
Show moreBehavioral studies in the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) have indicated that promiscuous mating is commonplace. Though it has been shown that there is much variation in the rate of polyandry (females mating with multiple males), the drivers behind polyandry in this species are unknown. It has been speculated, but never demonstrated, that indirect benefits (fitness benefits resulting from offspring genetic diversity) play a role. However, previous tests of this hypothesis have limited scope of inference due to lack of environmental control. In this thesis, I attempted to study the indirect benefits of polyandry in Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge (ACNWR) green turtles, limiting environmental variation by selecting nests over two week periods in a small subset of the ACNWR. Through the use of highly polymorphic microsatellite markers, I show that 85.7% of ACNWR green turtle females mate with multiple males, the highest rate yet reported for green turtles. I was successful in limiting environmental variation; however, I was unable to make comparisons among nests with one or multiple fathers because of a limited sample size of single father nests. Regardless, my thesis provides preliminary evidence (number of males per nest) that the density of males off Florida's beaches may be relatively high, which is expected to be a driver behind the evolution of polyandry and likely plays a large role both in this population and the prevalence of multiple paternity in green turtles as a whole.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0005029, ucf:50010
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005029
- Title
- THE INFLUENCE OF SEXUAL SELECTION ON BEHAVIORAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS UNDERLYING REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS IN MALE CAPE GROUND SQUIRRELS (XERUS INAURIS).
- Creator
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Manjerovic, Mary, Waterman, Jane, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Sexual selection is considered a powerful evolutionary force responsible for the enormous diversity found in reproductive morphology, physiology, and behavior. I addressed questions related to selection in the Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris), a species characterized as highly social and promiscuous. These attributes often are responsible for variance in male reproductive success and as such, sexual selection theory predicts increased opportunity for sexual selection. I confirm that the...
Show moreSexual selection is considered a powerful evolutionary force responsible for the enormous diversity found in reproductive morphology, physiology, and behavior. I addressed questions related to selection in the Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris), a species characterized as highly social and promiscuous. These attributes often are responsible for variance in male reproductive success and as such, sexual selection theory predicts increased opportunity for sexual selection. I confirm that the predominant mechanism underlying genital evolution and competition for paternity in X. inauris is sperm competition. I find evidence that investment in sperm competition is costly and may reflect immunocompetence. I quantify reproductive success as it relates to alternative male tactics and female resource distribution. I find that male X. inauris alternative reproductive tactics differ within and across populations most likely due to differences in female resource distribution. In areas where females are evenly distributed, dispersed males encounter more estrous females, and therefore have increased breeding opportunities. However, the decision to remain natal does not preclude reproduction. I determine that these tactics are most likely conditional with equal fitness payoffs. Males, regardless of tactic, invest more in post-copulatory competition (e.g. sperm competition, copulatory plugs) than males within a population with a clustered distribution of breeding females. In the latter area, males form dominance hierarchies that affect copulatory success and lead to greater skews in reproduction among males. Both sites have evidence of a highly skewed variance in reproduction and intense sexual selective pressure. My results suggest these populations have increased opportunities for selection but that different mechanisms of intrasexual competition may result in rapid evolutionary change within this species.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003400, ucf:48402
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003400
- Title
- Reproductive life history and signal evolution in a multi-species assemblage of electric fish.
- Creator
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Waddell, Joseph, Crampton, William, Fedorka, Kenneth, Quintana-Ascencio, Pedro, Stoddard, Philip, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
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Animals that co-occur in sympatry with multiple closely-related species use reproductive mate attraction signals not only to assess the quality of a potential conspecific mate (sexual selection), but also to discriminate conspecifics from heterospecifics (species recognition). However, the extent to which sexual selection and species recognition may interact, or even conflict, is poorly known. Neotropical electric fish offer unrivaled opportunities for understanding this problem. They...
Show moreAnimals that co-occur in sympatry with multiple closely-related species use reproductive mate attraction signals not only to assess the quality of a potential conspecific mate (sexual selection), but also to discriminate conspecifics from heterospecifics (species recognition). However, the extent to which sexual selection and species recognition may interact, or even conflict, is poorly known. Neotropical electric fish offer unrivaled opportunities for understanding this problem. They generate simple, stereotyped mate attraction signals that are easy to record and quantify, and that are well-understood from the neurobiological perspective. Additionally, they live in electrically-crowded environments, where multiple congeners live and reproduce in close proximity. This dissertation reports an investigation of electric signal diversity and reproductive life history in a nine-species assemblage of the electric fish genus Brachyhypopomus from the upper Amazon. A year-long quantitative sampling program yielded a library of electric signal recordings from (>)3,000 individuals and an accompanying collection of preserved specimens from which suites of informative life history traits were measured. These data were used to understand basic reproductive biology, and to describe sexually dimorphic and interspecific diversity in electric signals. By integrating approaches from ecology, physiology, and evolutionary biology, novel perspectives are provided on: 1. how sexual selection and species recognition interact to shape signal diversity and the occupation of signal space in multi-species animal communities; 2. how extreme seasonal variation in Amazonian ecosystems influences trade-offs in the allocation of reproductive resources (-) including mate attraction signals, and; 3. how environmental variation shapes general life-history traits in a diverse tropical animal assemblage.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006925, ucf:51689
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006925
