Repeatability of mating preferences in the sand goby

Variation among individuals in mate choice has important implications for the evolution of sexually selected traits. For example, it offers an explanation for the continued existence of heritable genetic variation in sexually selected male traits. In this study, we first tested the suitability of association tests for assessing female mate preferences in the sand goby, Pomatoschistus minutus. Sand goby females showed sexually motivated association preferences that were repeatable and corresponded to actual mating decisions. We then compared the correlation between the preferences of two different females presented to the same male pair with the correlation between preferences of single females tested twice. We found a weak correlation between preferences in the two-female treatment, while the correspondence between preferences was much higher for the single-female treatment. These results are in accordance with the possibility that sand goby females show genetically based, individual differences in mate preferences.