The intrinsically dynamic nature of mating patterns and sexual selection

Selection processes are influenced by both biotic and abiotic variables, most of which seasonally fluctuate. Therefore, selection may also vary temporally. Specifically, sexual selection, an integral component of natural selection, will inevitably exhibit temporal variation but the scale at which these changes occur are still not well understood. In this study, performed on a wild population of the sex-role reversed black striped pipefish Syngnathus abaster (Risso, 1827), we contrast variables such as male reproductive success, mating success, female investment, mate choice and operational sex ratio between two periods, either near the onset or end of the breeding season. Sexual selection is stronger early in the breeding season. Male reproductive and mating success are significantly affected by male size during the onset of the breeding season but not during the end. Moreover, we found that larger females reproduce mainly during the onset while smaller females had increased chances of reproducing towards the end. As our sampling was performed in two consecutive years, it could be argued that our results stem primarily from between-year variation. Nevertheless, variation in demographic parameters from the onset to the end of the breeding season is similar to that observed in past sampling events. Hence, we suggest that the change in mating patterns within the breeding season derives from seasonal fluctuations in several abiotic (e.g., temperature) and biotic variables (e.g., operational sex ratio), rendering the expression of selective forces, such as sexual selection, inherently dynamic.