Data from: Conspicuous female ornamentation and tests of male mate preference in threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

Sexual selection drives the evolution of exaggerated male ornaments in many animal species. Female ornamentation is now acknowledged also to be common but is generally less well understood. One example is the recently documented red female throat coloration in some threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) populations. Although female sticklebacks often exhibit a preference for red male throat coloration, the possibility of sexual selection on female coloration has been little studied. Using sequential and simultaneous mate choice trials, we examined male mate preferences for female throat color, as well as pelvic spine color and standard length, using wild-captured threespine sticklebacks from the Little Campbell River, British Columbia. In a multivariate analysis, we found no evidence for a population-level mate preference in males, suggesting the absence of directional sexual selection on these traits arising from male mate choice. Significant variation was detected among males in their preference functions, but this appeared to arise from differences in their mean responsiveness across mating trials and not from variation in the strength (i.e., slope) of their preference, suggesting the absence of individual-level preferences as well. When presented with conspecific intruder males, male response decreased as intruder red throat coloration increased, suggesting that males can discriminate color and other aspects of phenotype in our experiment and that males may use these traits in intrasexual interactions. The results presented here are the first to explicitly address male preference for female throat color in threespine sticklebacks.,Combined dataCombined data set for sequential and simultaneous choice trials. File includes all behavioral counts and all recorded fish measurements (including color measures). Data separated into sequential choice trials, simultaneous choice trials, and con-specific male sequential choice trials.Wrightetal.2015_Combined.xlsxRaw Throat Relfectance MeasuresRaw values of throat reflectance measures of all fish used. Data are separated into 2010 and 2011 year categories, for both male and female fish. Male ID (numbers) correspond to that year's trials, and not to male ID in the combined data set. For the combined data set, males are numbered 1-63, starting with the first male in 2010 and continuing sequentially through the end of the 2011 year. Con-specific or intruder males used in the con-specific male sequential choice trials are indicated with an 'I' (for example M7-I is the con-specific male presented to subject male 7)Raw Spec Values.xlsx,