Female Mating Propensity Research Articles

Correction to: Previous inter-sexual aggression increases female mating propensity in fruit flies

Correction to: Previous inter-sexual aggression increases female mating propensity in fruit flies

Previous inter-sexual aggression increases female mating propensity in fruit flies

Abstract Female mate choice is a complex decision making process that involves many context-dependent factors. Understanding the factors that shape variation in female mate choice has important consequences for evolution via sexual selection. In many animals including fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, males often use aggressive mating strategies to coerce females into mating, but it is not clear if females’ experience with sexual aggression shapes their future behaviors. Here, we used males derived from lineages that were artificially selected to display either low or high sexual aggression toward females to determine how experience with these males shapes subsequent female mate choice. First, we verified that males from these lineages differed in their sexual behaviors. We found that males from high sexual aggression backgrounds spent more time pursuing virgin females, and had a shorter mating latency but shorter copulation duration compared with males from low sexual aggression backgrounds. Next, we tested how either a harassment by or mating experience with males from either a high or low sexual aggression backgrounds influenced subsequent female mate choice behaviors. We found that in both scenarios, females that interacted with high sexual aggression males were more likely and faster to mate with a novel male one day later, regardless of the male’s aggression level. These results have important implications for understanding the evolution of flexible polyandry as a mechanism that benefits females.

The persistence of facultative parthenogenesis in Drosophila albomicans.

Parthenogenesis has evolved independently in more than 10 Drosophila species. Most cases are tychoparthenogenesis, which is occasional or accidental parthenogenesis in normally bisexual species with a low hatching rate of eggs produced by virgin females; this form is presumed to be an early stage of parthenogenesis. To address how parthenogenesis and sexual reproduction coexist in Drosophila populations, we investigated several reproductive traits, including the fertility, parthenogenetic capability, diploidization mechanisms, and mating propensity of parthenogenetic D. albomicans. The fertility of mated parthenogenetic females was significantly higher than that of virgin females. The mated females could still produce parthenogenetic offspring but predominantly produced offspring by sexual reproduction. Both mated parthenogenetic females and their parthenogenetic-sexual descendants were capable of parthenogenesis. The alleles responsible for parthenogenesis can be propagated through both parthenogenesis and sexual reproduction. As diploidy is restored predominantly by gamete duplication, heterozygosity would be very low in parthenogenetic individuals. Hence, genetic variation in parthenogenetic genomes would result from sexual reproduction. The mating propensity of females after more than 20 years of isolation from males was decreased. If mutations reducing mating propensities could occur under male-limited conditions in natural populations, decreased mating propensity might accelerate tychoparthenogenesis through a positive feedback mechanism. This process provides an opportunity for the evolution of obligate parthenogenesis. Therefore, the persistence of facultative parthenogenesis may be an adaptive reproductive strategy in Drosophila when a few founders colonize a new niche or when small populations are distributed at the edge of a species' range, consistent with models of geographical parthenogenesis.

Differences in Mating Propensity Between Immature Female Color Morphs in the Damselfly Ischnura elegans (Insecta: Odonata)

Female-limited color polymorphisms occur in a variety of animal taxa where excessive male sexual harassment may explain the coexistence of multiple female color morphs. In the color polymorphic damselfly Ischnura elegans, mature and immature female color morphs coexist at the mating site where males are in search for suitable mating partners. Here, we study male preference and female mating propensity for the two immature female morphs. As would be expected, compared to mature morphs, both immature female morphs mate much less. Within immature females, one morph consistently mates more frequently compared to the other morph, a pattern that is similar for the ontogenetically corresponding mature female morphs. Preference experiments with the two differently colored immature female morphs, however, did not indicate male mate preference for either morph. Low mating frequencies of immature females at natural sites in combination with relatively high attractiveness of immature models in terms of male preference indicate that female behavior influences female mating success.

The role of courtship song in sexual selection and species recognition by female Drosophila melanogaster

Male fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, produce a complex courtship display, which females may use to identify conspecifics and to aid in choosing a high-quality mate. Courtship song, consisting of sine and pulse elements, is an important acoustic component of this display. Whereas characteristics that differ between species have been identified, the signals used for intraspecific mate choice remain unknown, as does the function of sine song. To investigate further the role of pulse and sine song, we varied characteristics of artificial and edited songs and played them to groups of flies to determine whether sine or pulse song parameters contribute to female mate choice. Playing artificial songs did not substantially change the amount of male courtship behaviour. Sine song in any proportion had no effect on female mating propensity, nor was mating affected by sine-song frequency. The amount of pulse song offered positively increased mating, up to a threshold, without regard to the structure of the song, pulse carrier frequency, or interpulse interval. These results indicate that females use pulse song, not sine song, for both species identification and intraspecific mate choice. Males may continue to produce sine song as a relic, as a by-product of a physiological process or because it is inextricably linked to a mate-choice signal in a different modality. The role of song memory is discussed briefly.

Ingestion of male haemolymph and mating propensity of female sagebrush crickets: no evidence of a male-derived antiaphrodisiac

Male sagebrush crickets, Cyphoderris strepitans, offer an unusual nuptial food gift to females during copulation: females feed on the hindwings of males and ingest haemolymph seeping from the wounds they inflict. Previous work has shown that females prevented from wing feeding during initial copulations are more receptive to subsequent matings than females permitted to wing feed. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that hormonal substances contained in the haemolymph of males, and ingested by females during copulation, function to decrease female receptivity to further matings. We tested this hypothesis by providing females, experimentally prevented from wing feeding, with male-derived haemolymph or appropriate control substances (female-derived haemolymph or cricket Ringer's solution), and recording their propensity to mate (in 1999) or remate (in 2000). Female mating propensity was not affected by ingestion of male haemolymph in either experiment. Although these results are inconsistent with the male manipulation hypothesis, it is possible that putative receptivity-inhibiting substances are sequestered in the integument of males' hindwings, rather than contained in male haemolymph per se. Alternatively, both the results of the present study and those of previous studies are consistent with the hypothesis that wing feeding leads simply to satiation of females, and thereby diminishes their motivation to seek out additional matings. Copyright 2003 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Males of social insects can prevent queens from multiple mating.

During copulation, males of Bombus terrestris fill the queen's sexual tract with a mating plug after transferring their sperm. The sticky secretion is produced by the male's accessory glands and disappears within a couple of days. Experiments now show that the primary function of the plug is to reduce the subsequent mating probability of the queen. The plug is not efficient in preventing sperm migration into the spermatheca. Due to its low energetic value, the plug is also unlikely to serve as a nuptial gift. This type of male interference with female mating propensity has so far not been found in social insects. This finding could, at least tentatively, explain why females of B. terrestris may not be able to take advantage of the demonstrated benefits of multiple mating. Furthermore, such male interference could be a more general phenomenon in social insects, with obvious ramifications for the evolution of polyandry in this group.

Effect of a Substerilizing Dose of Radiation on the Mating Competitiveness of Male and on the Mating Propensity of Female Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae)

In this article we report the results of experiments conducted with Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) to determine the effects of a substerilizing dose of gamma radiation (100 Gy) on the mating competitiveness of treated males and the effect on the mating propensity of females with which they mate. Mating competitiveness of treated and untreated male moths was measured at two different release ratios inside field-cages in a cabbage field. A 1?:1/ and a 4?:1/ ratio were used while keeping a constant density of moths per cage. The mean number of matings recorded was not significantly different at either ratio, suggesting that treated males of this species are equally as competitive as their untreated counterparts. In the mating propensity studies, virgin female H. armigera were first mated to treated or untreated males and then re-exposed to untreated males 24 hours later. No statistical differences were found in the number of females that re-mated from either group. Thirty point eight percent of the females first mated with treated males and 29.17% of the females first mated to untreated males re-mated in this study. When both types of females were re-exposed to untreated males in the same field-cage, a higher percentage (38.3%) of females that had initially mated with a treated male re-mated than those initially mated with a untreated male (31.7%), although the differences were not significant.

THE ORIGINS OF PREMATING REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION: TESTING HYPOTHESES IN THE GRASSHOPPER CHORTHIPPUS PARALLELUS

There are many proposed routes for the origin of premating reproductive isolation, but few systematic studies aimed at testing their relative importance. Accumulated information about the biogeographical history of the European meadow grasshopper, Chorthippus parallelus, has allowed us to make a planned series of comparisons among populations aimed at distinguishing the contributions of some of these hypotheses. We have compared the effects on assortative mating of long-term isolation in glacial refugia, founder events during postglacial colonization, and sympatry with a closely related species. A likelihood-based analysis allowed us to separate effects of variation in male and female mating propensity among populations from variation in mate choice leading to assortative mating. All three effects contributed significantly to the overall variation in mating pattern in a set of 21 pairwise comparisons among seven populations. Male cuticular composition, but not other candidate signals, was significantly associated with the level of assortative mating. Of the hypotheses for the origin of reproductive isolation, only the predictions of the founder hypothesis explained a significant amount of the variation in assortative mating. This does not rule out the possiblity that there may be some other explanation. Having established the pattern of divergence, it is possible to generate hypotheses that explain our results at least as well as the founder hypothesis. However, because many such post hoc hypotheses are possible, they cannot be tested with this dataset. On this basis, our results favor the hypothesis that some aspect of the colonization process tends to accelerate divergence in mating signals leading to premating reproductive isolation. This could be accomplished through any one of several mechanisms. Colonization involves many bottlenecks as new populations are established at the edge of the range by long-distance migrants. Genetic effects may be important, but these bottlenecks may also alter the conditions under which mates are found and chosen, as suggested by Kaneshiro. At the same time, the colonizing populations may encounter novel environmental challenges.Corresponding Editor: J. Mallet

Mating system evolution in response to search costs in the speckled wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria

A general and intuitive prediction from models of mate preference is that when the cost of searching for mates increases, individuals should become less choosy. Here, we test this prediction by comparing the mating propensity of females in two populations of the butterfly Pararge aegeria. The populations originated from southern Sweden and Madeira and due to different adult emergence patterns throughout the year, the average density of males per female is likely to be lower on Madeira. Therefore, we expected that the cost of searching should be greater on Madeira and, consequently, that the Madeiran females should be less choosy. In line with predictions, the Madeiran females mated significantly sooner after the first interaction with males than did females from southern Sweden. This difference may reflect a weaker preference for territorial males over non-territorial patrollers in the Madeiran population, because of the greater costs of searching. The Madeiran females also showed a shorter time lag between mating and the start of oviposition. We discuss this unexpected result and propose that the same mechanism could also explain this population difference, i.e. different costs of searching for suitable host plants. Both search processes are fundamental for female reproductive success and we find it plausible that they can be generalised into the same theory of optimal search behaviour.

Inheritance mode of Drosophila simulans female mating propensity with D. melanogaster males.

The genetic factors involved in the sexual isolation between Drosophila simulans females and D. melanogaster males are hardly known. We present a study of female mating propensity of D. simulans from different geographic origins with D. melanogaster males. Our results reveal the existence of genetic variability in D. simulans for this trait. Female discrimination is dominant against high female interspecific mating, which differs from that detected in other Drosophila species crosses.

MATING PROPENSITY AND COURTSHIP BEHAVIOR IN SERIALLY BOTTLENECKED LINES OF THE HOUSEFLY.

The efficacy of bottlenecks to stimulate divergence in courtship behavior and consequent premating isolation was tested by serial founder-flush episodes of three sizes (one, four, or 16 pairs) on a population of houseflies established in the laboratory from a single field population. After the fifth founder-flush episode, intraline and interline crosses were performed to detect divergence in mating propensities and patterns of assortative mating. Videotapings of intraline courtships for the bottleneck lines and the control were evaluated for changes in courtship repertoire. All bottleneck lines showed significant divergence from the control in male and/or female mating propensity and in courtship behavior. Divergence from the control was bidirectional for both male and female mating propensities as well as for courtship element utilization. Out of 15 tests for assortative mating between bottleneck lines and between bottleneck lines and the control, only two cases of positive assortative mating and one case of negative assortative mating were detected. Because some bottleneck lines showed increased courtship element utilization and because decreased courtship utilization in some bottleneck lines was related to higher male mating success, the mechanisms behind the Kaneshiro model (which is based upon ancestral females discriminating against bottleneck males that had "lost" courtship elements) were not supported in general. A partitioning effect of the bottlenecks upon the intrinsic variation in the ancestral population for courtship pattern appeared to explain a large component of the directions of divergence from the control. Still, the pattern of divergence of some bottleneck lines apparently was not constrained by the intercorrelation structure of courtship behaviors detected in the control. Because previous studies showed that the bottleneck lines had rebounded from inbreeding depression to fitness levels of the control, this study documents nondebilitating differentiation in the courtship repertoire that can account for divergent mating propensities and premating isolation.

Effects of the hypoactive and inactive mutations on mating success in Drosophila melanogaster

The effects on mating success of four X-linked mutations controlling locomotor activity are examined. The mutation hypoE has no effect on female mating success. The mutations hypoC, iav and iav2 reduce female mating propensity and extend courtship durations. Unlike wild type females these mutant females fail to reach their maximum propensity for mating on the second day after eclosion. The iav females have normal wild type compositions of cuticular hydrocarbons and are highly attractive to courting males. Attenuated perception or aberrant processing of male courtship stimuli, and delayed sexual maturation are likely contributors to the poor mating propensity of inactive females. The iav mutation also causes decreased mating success and extended courtship duration in male mutants. This is largely a consequence of their inactivity. The duration of courtship latency, which is related to the number of phenotypically inactive flies present in the pairing, is positively correlated with age. Copulation duration, though primarily a male determined trait, is also affected by age. Some inferences regarding possible modes of action of the mutations are discussed.

Corn Earworm (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): Influence of Irradiation and Mating History on the Mating Propensity of Females

Laboratory-strain Heliothis zea (Boddie) females that were mated with untreated males, irradiated (10 krad) males, or male progeny from irradiated (10 krad) males and then held for 24 or 48 h were compared for their ability to lure males into traps or to attract and mate with a male. The mating propensity of females that had been mated with either untreated or irradiated males and held for 24 h was less than the mating propensity of virgin females. Females of the same group that were held for 48 h after mating were as attractive to males as were virgin females. The mating propensity of females mated with male progeny of irradiated males was not significantly different from the mating propensity of virgin females. The percentage eupyrene sperm found in the spermatheca of females that had mated with male progeny of irradiated males were significantly lower than the percentage eupyrene sperm found in the spermatheca of females that had mated with untreated or irradiated males.

Codling Moth: 1 Effects of Gamma Radiation on Mating Propensity of Each Sex, and the Limitation of Mating by Females

Virgin male and female Laspeyresia pomonella (L.) (0 to 24-h-old) were exposed to 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, or 40 krad of gamma radiation and each caged individually for life with a single 0 to 24-h-old untreated, virgin moth of the opposite sex. Female mating propensity was increased by exposure to radiation; male propensity was unchanged. Female moths caged with a new 0- to 24-h-old male each day sharply reduced spermatophore passage by the males.

ANALYSIS OF DATA ON SEXUAL ISOLATION

Following the recognition by Dobzhansky of the importance of sexual isolation in speciation, especially in the genus Drosophila, a number of experiments have been made on mating discrimination between races of various Drosophila species: willistoni (Dobzhansky and Mayr, 1944), sturtevanti (Dobzhansky, 1944) and prosaltans (Dobzhansky and Streisinger, 1944) and between the species pseudoobscura and persimilis and their hybrid (Mayr, 1946a). Tan (1946) has made a similar study of the effects of mutants in pseudoobscura. A brief account of the technique is necessary here. Equal numbers of two strains of females are enclosed with males of one of these strains. After a lapse of time sufficient to produce about 50% insemination the distribution of inseminated females between the two strains is observed. The percentage of intra-strain minus the percentage of inter-strain matings, divided by their sum, is the isolation index. If all are intra-strain the index is 1. If all are inter-strain the index is -1. If both strains are equally inseminated the index is zero. Since one strain of males is enclosed with two strains of females it is tempting to assume that the results are determined by discrimination on the part of the males. Both the direct (Mayr, 1946b) and indirect (Bateman, 1948) evidence is quite contrary to this assumption. Virtually conclusive was Streisinger's experiment (1948). Etherization of females, by inhibiting any discrimination on their part, enabled interspecific which were otherwise impossible to take place freely. It is justifiable to suppose that the determining factor in choice is the degree to which the two strains of female repel the same males. It is unfortunate, in view of the role of the females in determining sexual isolation, that in experiments of the choice type it is always the males rather than the females which have been offered the choice. The technical difficulties confronting the female choice are great. If they could be overcome, however, they might be more sensitive than the usually used. The repulsion exercised by the females will be the result of two sets of factors. The first, which is strictly concerned with sexual isolation, will depend on the ability of females to perceive whether the male is of their own or another strain and the degree to which they are capable of repelling males which they recognize as foreign. The second is concerned with the non-specific mating propensity of the females (what might be called their heat). Mayr (1946 a and b) has proposed that the more active the female the more likely she is to be courted. This does seem to apply when one compares females of the species D. pseudoobscura and D. persimilis. On the other hand, if a female is trying to avoid mating, the more active she is the more successful she will be. The situation is probably a complex one. The relative mating propensity of females of different strains introduces a complication to the study of sexual isolation which it may mask or-exaggerate, sometimes even producing negative isolation indices, which are inexplicable by the theory of sexual isolation. It is possible, however, to separate the effects of sexual isolation from those of mating propensity by the use of the isolation indices from complementary matings. Complementary matings is here used of the pairs of of the types (A + B) X A ee and (A + B)