Search results for "Mating"
showing 10 items of 387 documents
Diapause affects cuticular hydrocarbon composition and mating behavior of both sexes inDrosophila montana
2018
Environmental cues, mainly photoperiod and temperature, are known to control female adult reproductive diapause in several insect species. Diapause enhances female survival during adverse conditions and postpones progeny production to the favorable season. Male diapause (a reversible inability to inseminate receptive females) has been studied much less than female diapause. However, if the males maximized their chances to fertilize females while minimizing their energy expenditure, they would be expected to be in diapause at the same time as females. We investigated Drosophila montana male mating behavior under short‐day conditions that induce diapause in females and found the males to be r…
Does foreplay matter? Gammarus pulex females may benefit from long-lasting precopulatory mate guarding.
2011
Precopulatory mate guarding (PCMG) is generally assumed to be costly for both sexes. However, males may gain by displaying long-lasting mate guarding under strong male–male competition. Surprisingly, the potential for females to benefit from being held by males has been largely overlooked in previous studies. In Gammarus pulex , an amphipod crustacean, PCMG lasts several weeks, yet females are described as bearing only cost from such male mating strategy. We investigated potential female benefits by assessing the effect of mate guarding on her intermoult duration. Unpaired females had longer intermoult duration than paired females. Intermoult duration clearly decreased when paired females …
Sex roles and the evolution of parental care specialization
2019
Males and females are defined by the relative size of their gametes (anisogamy), but secondary sexual dimorphism in fertilization, parental investment and mating competition is widespread and often remarkably stable over evolutionary timescales. Recent theory has clarified the causal connections between anisogamy and the most prevalent differences between the sexes, but deviations from these patterns remain poorly understood. Here, we study how sex differences in parental investment and mating competition coevolve with parental care specialization. Parental investment often consists of two or more distinct activities (e.g. provisioning and defence) and parents may care more efficiently by s…
Females tend to prefer genetically similar mates in an island population of house sparrows.
2014
11 pages; International audience; BACKGROUND: It is often proposed that females should select genetically dissimilar mates to maximize offspring genetic diversity and avoid inbreeding. Several recent studies have provided mixed evidence, however, and in some instances females seem to prefer genetically similar males. A preference for genetically similar mates can be adaptive if outbreeding depression is more harmful than inbreeding depression or if females gain inclusive fitness benefits by mating with close kin. Here, we investigated genetic compatibility and mating patterns in an insular population of house sparrow (Passer domesticus), over a three-year period, using 12 microsatellite mar…
State-dependent pairing behaviour in male Gammarus pulex (L.) (Crustacea, Amphipoda): effects of time left to moult and prior pairing status
2004
Because mating can be costly in terms of time and energy, an individual's propensity to engage in courtship and mating activities might be modulated by its physiological state. However, so far, state-dependent mate choice has received little attention The present study examined the effect of both prior pairing status and time left to the moult on the ability of male Gammarus pulex (Crustacea, Amphipoda) to enter in precopula with receptive females. In the lab, males that were freshly collected in precopula pairs in the field had a higher probability of re-pairing and were quicker to enter in precopula with receptive females compared to males of similar size that were freshly collected unpai…
Sexual and postmating reproductive isolation between allopatric Drosophila montana populations suggest speciation potential
2011
This work was funded by a European Commission Research Training Grant RTN2-2001-00049, the Centre of Excellence for Evolutionary Research at the University of Jyväskylä and a Marie Curie Initial Training Network, ‘Understanding the evolutionary origin of biological diversity’ (ITN-2008-213780 SPECIATION) Background: Widely distributed species with populations adapted to different environmental conditions can provide valuable opportunities for tracing the onset of reproductive incompatibilities and their role in the speciation process. Drosophila montana, a D. virilis group species found in high latitude boreal forests in Nearctic and Palearctic regions around the globe, could be an excellen…
Genetic and potential non-genetic benefits increase offspring fitness of polyandrous females in non-resource based mating system
2010
Abstract Background The adaptive significance of female polyandry is currently under considerable debate. In non-resource based mating systems, indirect, i.e. genetic benefits have been proposed to be responsible for the fitness gain from polyandry. We studied the benefits of polyandry in the Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) using an experimental design in which the material investments by the sires and maternal environmental effects were controlled. Results Embryonic mortality showed a strong paternal genetic component, and it was lower in polyandrously fertilized offspring (sperm competition of two males) than in monandrous fertilizations. We also found that high sperm velocity was assoc…
Multiple paternity in clutches of Common lizard Lacerta vivipara: data from microsatellite markers
2004
The common lizard (Lacerta vivipara) is a small live-bearing lacertid that reproduces once a year. In order to document the poorly known mating system of this species, we present here an assessment of multiple paternity using microsatellite markers. Paternities were established within 122 clutches belonging to two wild populations from contrasted areas and to four seminatural enclosed populations. The proportion of multiply sired clutches was found to be very high (between 50.0% and 68.2%) and similar among populations, which suggests that the mating system of this species may be insensitive to environmental and population conditions.
Virgins in the wild: mating status affects the behavior of a parasitoid foraging in the field
2008
In haplodiploid organisms, virgin females can produce offspring, albeit only sons. They may therefore face a trade-off between either: (1) searching for hosts and producing sons immediately; or (2) searching for mates and perhaps producing both sons and daughters later in life. Although this trade-off raises a theoretical interest, it has not been approached experimentally. The objective of this article is thus to document the effect of mating status on the foraging behavior of a haplodiploid parasitoid. For this, we recorded the behavior of virgin and mated female Lysiphlebus testaceipes (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) after being released, in the field, on a colony of their aphid hosts. Half of…
Size‐selective harvesting fosters adaptations in mating behaviour and reproductive allocation, affecting sexual selection in fish
2019
The role of sexual selection in the context of harvest-induced evolution is poorly understood. However, elevated and trait-selective harvesting of wild populations may change sexually selected traits, which in turn can affect mate choice and reproduction. We experimentally evaluated the potential for fisheries-induced evolution of mating behaviour and reproductive allocation in fish. We used an experimental system of zebrafish (Danio rerio) lines exposed to large, small or random (i.e. control) size-selective mortality. The large-harvested line represented a treatment simulating the typical case in fisheries where the largest individuals are preferentially harvested. We used a full factoria…