Barbara König: University of Zurich Institute of Zoology

In addition to sexual selection, selection resulting from social interactions in contexts other than mating can be a potent evolutionary force. Such social selection processes are facilitated whenever individual fitness varies as a result of any form of social interactions. The choice of social partners for communal care of young is such a situation in which interactants potentially experience fitness variance. We combine lab experiments with field data to investigate the existence and impact of female social partner choice and the potential for social selection to occur in the communally breeding wild house mouse (Mus domesticus). Female house mice display non-random preferences, and social partner choice yields significant fitness benefits. This suggests that interactions among females are subject to social selection processes, driving the evolution of female traits.
http://www.bec.ucla.edu/Konig.pdf