DOI: 10.5061/dryad.bcc2fqzfx
title: Exploring the interplay between natural and intersexual selection on the evolution of a cognitive trait

description: There has been an increased focus on the role of natural and sexual
 selection in shaping cognitive abilities, but the importance of the
 interaction between both forces remain largely unknown. Intersexual
 selection through female mate choice might be an important driver of the
 evolution of cognitive traits, especially in monogamous species, where
 females may obtain direct fitness benefits by choosing mates with better
 cognitive abilities. However, the importance given by females to male
 cognitive traits might vary among species and/or populations according to
 their life-history traits and ecology. To disentangle the effects of
 natural and sexual selection, here we use an agent-based simulation model
 and compare the model’s predictions when females mate with the first
 randomly encountered male (i.e. under natural selection) versus when they
 choose among males based on their cognitive trait values (i.e. under
 natural and intersexual selection). Males and females are characterized,
 respectively, by their problem-solving ability and assessment strategy. At
 each generation, agents go through (1) a choosing phase during which
 females assess the cognitive abilities of potential mates until eventually
 finding an acceptable one, and (2) a reproductive phase during which all
 males compete for limited resources that are exploited at a rate which
 depends on their cognitive abilities. Because males provide paternal care,
 the foraging success of mated males determines the breeding success of the
 pair through its effect on nestling provisioning efficiency. The model
 predicts that intersexual selection plays a major role in most ecological
 conditions, by either reinforcing or acting against the effect of natural
 selection. The latter case occurs under harsh environmental conditions,
 where intersexual selection contributes to maintaining cognitive
 diversity. Our findings thus demonstrate the importance of considering the
 interaction between both selective forces and highlight the need to build
 a conceptual framework to target relevant cognitive traits.
description: The dataset was extracted between 28/09/2021 and
 05/10/2021 from an agent-based model composed by a simulation (i.e.
 producing the raw data), and a script that convert the raw data into the
 actual shared dataset. The dataset is composed by two files (i.e.
 NaturalSelection and NaturalSexualSelection), each including 36 files of
 datasets (i.e.
 TypeOfSelection_ForagingPeriod_ChoosingPeriod_PatchQuality_CognitiveCost).
 Every file is composed by three document.txt (i.e.
 AnalyseLinkSRFemaleCriterionEvolutionFile,
 AnalyseLinkSRFemalePrecisionEvolution, AnalyseLinkSRMaleTraitEvolution)
 representing the datasets for each relevant trait in our simulation (i.e.
 female selectivity trait, female accuracy trait and male cognitive trait
 respectively). Each dataset contains the mean and sd reproductive success
 for each the trait value, the generation (i.e. from 0 to 999) and the
 range (i.e. from 5 to 185 food patch number, by 5). These datasets allowed
 us to create all figures of the mean frequency of each male and female
 trait values in 360 environmental conditions, under natural selection
 alone and under natural and sexual selection. 
description: The simulation model was
 developed using the Python programming language, while the simulations
 were run on Canada compute servers (Calcul Quebec). All figures were
 generated in R studio (R
 Development Core Team, 2021; version 4.0.2).