scholarly journals Drosophila Sexual Attractiveness in Older Males Is Mediated by Their Microbiota

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 168
Author(s):  
Chloe Heys ◽  
Anne Lizé ◽  
Zenobia Lewis ◽  
Tom A. R. Price
Keyword(s):  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Sexual Attractiveness ◽  
Extreme Temperatures ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Honest Signal ◽  
Male Attractiveness ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Older Males

Age is well known to be a basis for female preference of males. However, the mechanisms underlying age-based choices are not well understood, with several competing theories and little consensus. The idea that the microbiota can affect host mate choice is gaining traction, and in this study we examine whether the male microbiota influences female preference for older individuals in the fruit fly Drosophila pseudoobscura. We find that an intact microbiota is a key component of attractiveness in older males. However, we found no evidence that this decrease in older male attractiveness was simply due to impaired microbiota generally reducing male quality. Instead, we suggest that the microbiota underlies an honest signal used by females to assess male age, and that impaired microbiota disrupt this signal. This suggests that age-based preferences may break down in environments where the microbiota is impaired, for example when individuals are exposed to naturally occurring antibiotics, extreme temperatures, or in animals reared in laboratories on antibiotic supplemented diet.

scholarly journals Exploring the interactions between vulnerability, resilience and adaptation to extreme temperatures

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana Raquel Nunes
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Separate Analysis ◽  
Extreme Temperatures ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Social Psychological ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Policy Measures ◽  
Integrated Assessments ◽  
Current Deficit ◽  
Different Levels

AbstractProposed ways of improving adaptation to climate change have most often been supported by narrowly framed and separate analysis. This article investigates how different levels of vulnerability and resilience interplay with adaptation to extreme temperatures, what is the nature of these relationships and whether lower vulnerability and higher resilience contribute to increased adaptation. This article explores the governance implications of a project that, unlike other, brings together vulnerability, resilience and adaptation assessments. The project has made significant advances in addressing the current deficit integrated assessments for shaping governance propositions. Such propositions argue that the diverse levels of vulnerability and resilience convey important bases for (1) targeting at-risk older individuals; (2) developing vulnerability reduction actions; (3) resilience building actions; and (4) understanding ‘success cases’ and learn from them for developing appropriate policy measures. Taken together, these propositions offer a social, psychological and health framework not simply for governing extreme temperatures but for governing responses to climate change at large.

scholarly journals Inconsistent sexual signaling degrades optimal mating decisions in animals

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (20) ◽  
pp. eaax3957 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie C. Tanner ◽  
Mark A. Bee
Keyword(s):  
Ambient Noise ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Optimal Decision ◽  
Signal Quality ◽  
Signal Evolution ◽  
Sexual Signals ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Signal Production ◽  
Optimal Decision Making ◽  
And Function

Like political stump speeches and product advertisements, animal signals are highly repetitive and function to persuade receivers to adopt behaviors benefiting the signaler. And like potential constituents and consumers, receivers assess signals to inform their behavioral decisions. However, inconsistency in sexual signals is widespread and potentially injects uncertainty into mating decisions. Here, we show that females fail to make optimal mating decisions based on assessments of signal quality due to inconsistency in signal production. Natural levels of inconsistency markedly reduced female preference expression for a nonarbitrary signal of male quality. Inconsistency reshaped preferences even more profoundly than the better-known impediment of ambient noise. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of how inconsistent messaging degrades optimal decision-making in animals, with implications for understanding signal evolution.

scholarly journals Juvenile social experience affects pairing success at adulthood: congruence with the loser effect?

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1767) ◽  
pp. 20131514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mylene M. Mariette ◽  
Charlène Cathaud ◽  
Rémi Chambon ◽  
Clémentine Vignal
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Male Attractiveness ◽  
Winner And Loser Effects ◽  
Analogous Process ◽  
Social Partners ◽  
Juvenile Males

Social interactions with adults are often critical for the development of mating behaviours. However, the potential role of other primary social partners such as juvenile counterparts is rarely considered. Most interestingly, it is not known whether interactions with juvenile females improve males’ courtship and whether, similar to the winner and loser effects in a fighting context—outcome of these interactions shapes males’ behaviour in future encounters. We investigated the combined effects of male quality and juvenile social experience on pairing success at adulthood in zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata ). We manipulated brood size to alter male quality and then placed males in either same- or mixed-sex juvenile dyads until adulthood. We found that males from reduced broods obtained more copulations and males from mixed-sex dyads had more complete courtships. Furthermore, independent of their quality, males that failed to pair with juvenile females, but not juvenile males, had a lower pairing success at adulthood. Our study shows that negative social experience with peers during adolescence may be a potent determinant of pairing success that can override the effects of early environmental conditions on male attractiveness and thereby supports the occurrence of an analogous process to the loser effect in a mating context.

scholarly journals Genetic association between male attractiveness and female differential allocation

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 341-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan L Head ◽  
John Hunt ◽  
Robert Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Mate Choice ◽  
Genetic Association ◽  
Reproductive Effort ◽  
Female Preference ◽  
Acheta Domesticus ◽  
Female Size ◽  
Differential Allocation ◽  
Male Attractiveness ◽  
Analogous Manner

Differential allocation of reproductive effort towards offspring of attractive mates is a form of post-copulatory mate choice. Although differential allocation has been demonstrated in many taxa, its evolutionary implications have received little attention. Theory predicts that mate choice will lead to a positive genetic correlation between female preference and male attractiveness. This prediction has been upheld for pre-copulatory mate choice, but whether such a relationship between male attractiveness and female differential allocation exists has never been tested. Here, we show that both female pre-copulatory mate choice and post-copulatory differential allocation are genetically associated with male attractiveness in house crickets, Acheta domesticus . Daughters of attractive males mated sooner and laid more eggs when paired with larger males. These forms of mate choice are strongest in large females, suggesting that costs decrease with increasing female size. The genetic association between attractiveness and differential allocation suggests potential for differential allocation to become exaggerated by coevolutionary runaway processes in an analogous manner to pre-copulatory choice. Sexual selection is thus likely to be stronger than predicted by pre-copulatory choice alone.

RESEARCH PAPER: Multiple Sexual Ornamentation Signals Male Quality and Predicts Female Preference in Minnows

Ethology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (10) ◽  
pp. 895-903 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jukka Kekäläinen ◽  
Hannele Valkama ◽  
Hannu Huuskonen ◽  
Jouni Taskinen
Keyword(s):  
Female Preference ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Male Quality ◽  
Sexual Ornamentation

scholarly journals No support for intra-nor inter-locus sexual conflict over mating latency and copulation duration in a polyandrous fruit fly

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie M. Collet ◽  
Jacqueline L Sztepanacz
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Conflict ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
The Other ◽  
Copulation Duration ◽  
Total Strength ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male Attractiveness ◽  
Mating Latency ◽  
Drosophila Serrata

AbstractThe total strength of sexual selection on males depends on the relationship between various components of pre- and post-copulatory fitness. Misalignment between male and female interests creates inter-locus sexual conflict, where the fitness of one sex is increased at the expense of the other. Although rarely considered, mating behaviours can also be genetically correlated between males and females, creating intra-locus sexual conflict, where beneficial alleles in one sex are costly when expressed in the other sex. How inter- and intra-locus sexual conflicts operate on the expression of mating behaviours remains little understood. Here, we study male attractiveness, mating latency and copulation duration in two populations of the polyandrous Drosophila serrata. Univariate analyses show little genetic variance in mating latency, and that males, but not females, contribute to copulation duration genetic variance. Further, multivariate analyses revealed little covariance between the studied traits. However, analyses considering male and female contribution in a single framework supported genetic contributions from both sexes for mating behaviours and complex patterns of between sexes correlations. Finally, our study did not find any association between those mating behaviours and fitness component, specifically (i) no phenotypic covariance between male attractiveness and mating latency and, (ii) longer copulations did not result in the production of more offspring. With no detectable fitness benefits in any sexes for shorter mating latency or longer copulation duration, our results do not support the presence of inter-nor intra-locus sexual conflict for these mating traits.

scholarly journals Antibody response after COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in relation to age, sex, and side effects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Naaber ◽  
Virge Jürjenson ◽  
Ainika Adamson ◽  
Epp Sepp ◽  
Liina Tserel ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Response ◽  
Side Effects ◽  
Immune Responses ◽  
Antibody Response ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
High Efficacy ◽  
Vaccine Response ◽  
Antibody Levels ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Older Males

AbstractBackgroundThe mRNA vaccines for SARS-CoV2 have proven highly effective and are currently used to vaccinate all age groups against COVID-19. Despite their high efficacy in clinical trials, there is limited data on the impact of age, sex, and side effects on vaccine-induced immune responses.MethodsWe here studied the development of SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein RBD domain antibodies after two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty mRNA vaccine in 118 healthy volunteers and correlated their immune response with age, sex, and side effects reported after the vaccinations.FindingsOur findings show a robust immune response to the Spike protein’s RBD region after the first and the second vaccination dose. However, we also saw a decline of antibody levels at 6 weeks versus 1 week after the second dose, suggesting a waning of the immune response over time. Regardless of this, the antibody levels at 6 weeks after the second dose remained significantly higher than before the vaccination, after the first dose, or in COVID-19 convalescent individuals. We found a decreased vaccination efficacy but fewer adverse events in older individuals, and that mRNA vaccination is less efficient in older males whereas the detrimental impact of age on vaccination outcome is abolished in females at 6 weeks after the second dose.InterpretationThe Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty mRNA vaccine induces a strong immune response after two doses of vaccination but older individuals develop fewer side effects and decreased antibody levels at 6 weeks. The waning of anti-viral antibodies in particular in older male individuals suggests that both age and male sex act as risk factors in the immune response to the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine.FundingThe study was supported by the Centre of Excellence in Translational Genomics (EXCEGEN), and the Estonian Research Council grant PRG377 and SYNLAB Estonia.Research in contextEvidence before this studyThe first studies addressing the immune responses in older individuals after the single-dose administration of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines have been published. We searched PubMed and medRxiv for publications on the immune response of SARS-CoV-2-mRNA vaccines, published in English, using the search terms “SARS-CoV-2”, “COVID-19”, “vaccine response”, “mRNA vaccine”, up to April 15th, 2021. To date, most mRNA vaccine response studies have not been peer-reviewed, and data on the role of age, sex and side effects on SARS-CoV-2-mRNA vaccines in real vaccination situations is limited. Some studies have found a weaker immune response in older individuals after the first dose and these have been measured at a relatively short period (within 1-2 weeks) after the first dose but little longer-term evidence exists on the postvaccination antibody persistence. Even less information is available on sex differences or correlations with mRNA vaccine side effects.Added value of this studyIn this study, we assessed the antibody response up to 6 weeks after the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty mRNA vaccine in 118 individuals. Our findings show a strong initial immune response after the first dose and an even higher Spike RBD antibody levels at 1 week after the second dose, but these significantly declined at 6 weeks after the second dose. We also found a weaker immune response and faster waning of antibodies in older vaccinated individuals, which correlated with fewer side effects at the time of vaccinations. Furthermore, although overall female and male vaccinees responded similarly, we found that age-related waning of the vaccine-related antibodies was stronger amongst older males whereas in females the impact of age was lost at 6 weeks after the second dose.Implications of all the available evidenceNew mRNA vaccines are now applied worldwide as they have shown high efficacy in clinical trials. Our results show that two doses of Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty mRNA vaccine induce a strong antibody response to Spike RBD region but these high levels decline 1.5 months after the second dose in most of the vaccinated individuals. Nevertheless, even at 6 weeks after the second dose, they stay significantly higher than at prevaccination, after the first dose of vaccine, or in Covid-19 postinfection. These findings also implicate that fewer adverse effects may indicate lower antibody response after the vaccination and point to the need for more individualized vaccination protocols, in particular among older people.

scholarly journals Elecroantennogram Responses of the Cherry Fruit Fly Rhαgoletis cerαsi (Diptera: Tephritidae) to Naturally Occurring Volatiles

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Raptopoulos ◽  
A. Koutsaftikis ◽  
G. Haniotakis ◽  
E. Douma
Keyword(s):  
Functional Groups ◽  
Organic Compounds ◽  
Chain Length ◽  
Plant Volatiles ◽  
Fruit Fly ◽  
Carbon Chain ◽  
Carbon Chain Length ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Rhagoletis Cerasi

EAG responses of the cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis cerasi (Linne) (Diptera: Tephritidae) were recorded in response to seventy-eight generally occurring plant volatiles and male cherry fruit fly volatiles. The test compounds are representatives of three major classes of organic compounds, aldehydes, ketones, and monoterpenes. No differences were observed in the degree of response between males and females, Carbon-chain length, unsaturation, and position of functional groups all have significant effect on the magnitude of EAG response.

scholarly journals Age differences in the temporal stability of a male African elephant (Loxodonta africana) social network

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Murphy ◽  
Hannah S Mumby ◽  
Michelle D Henley
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Temporal Dynamics ◽  
Temporal Stability ◽  
Network Centrality ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Local Conditions ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Older Males ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Social animals live in complex and variable socio-ecological environments where individuals adapt their behavior to local conditions. Recently, there have been calls for studies of animal social networks to take account of temporal dynamics in social relationships as these have implications for the spread of information and disease, group cohesion, and the drivers of sociality, and there is evidence that maintaining stable social relationships has fitness benefits. It has recently been recognized that male elephants form strong social bonds with other males. The nature of these relationships, and thus network structure, may vary over time in response to varying environmental conditions and as individuals age. Using social network analysis, we examine the stability of relationships and network centrality in a population of male African elephants. Our results suggest that males may maintain stable social relationships with others over time. Older males show greater stability in network centrality than younger males, suggesting younger males face uncertainty in transitioning to adult society. For elephants, where older individuals function as social repositories of knowledge, maintaining a social network underpinned by older males could be of particular importance.

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