scholarly journals Mate availability does not influence mating strategies in males of the sexually cannibalistic spiderArgiope bruennichi

PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e5360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna-Lena Cory ◽  
Jutta M. Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Density Variation ◽  
Male Competition ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Mating Partner ◽  
Mate Availability ◽  
Mating Rate ◽  
Duration Of Copulation ◽  
Sexual Selection Theory ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundSexual selection theory predicts that male investment in a current female should be a function of female density and male competition. While many studies have focused on male competition, the impact of female density on male mating investment has been widely neglected. Here, we aimed to close this gap and tested effects of mate density on male mating decisions in the orb-web spiderArgiope bruennichi. Males of this species mutilate their genitalia during copulation, which reduces sperm competition and limits their mating rate to a maximum of two females (bigyny). The mating rate is frequently further reduced by female aggression and cannibalization. Males can reduce the risk of cannibalism if they jump off the female in time, but will then transfer fewer sperm. An alternative solution of this trade-off is to copulate longer, commit self-sacrifice and secure higher minimal paternity. The self-sacrificial strategy may be adaptive if prospective mating chances are uncertain. InA. bruennichi, this uncertainty may arise from quick changes in population dynamics. Therefore, we expected that males would immediately respond to information about low or high mate availability and opt for self-sacrifice after a single copulation under low mate availability. If male survival depends on information about prospective mating chances, we further predicted that under high mate availability, we would find a higher rate of males that leave the first mating partner to follow a bigynous mating strategy.MethodWe used naïve males and compared their mating decisions among two treatments that differed in the number of signalling females. In the high mate availability treatment, males perceived pheromone signals from four adult, virgin females, while in the low mate availability treatment only one of four females was adult and virgin and the other three were penultimate and unreceptive.ResultsMales took more time to start mate searching if mate availability was low. However, a self-sacrificial strategy was not more likely under low mate availability. We found no effects of treatment on the duration of copulation, the probability to survive the first copulation or the probability of bigyny. Interestingly, survival chances depended on male size and were higher in small males.DiscussionOur results do not support the hypothesis that mate density variation affects male mating investment, although they clearly perceived mate density, which they presumably assessed by pheromone quantity. One reason for the absence of male adjustments to mating tactics could be that adaptations to survive female attacks veil adaptations that facilitate mating decisions.

scholarly journals From resource to female defence: the impact of roosting ecology on a bat's mating strategy

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (11) ◽  
pp. 160503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linus Günther ◽  
Marlena D. Lopez ◽  
Mirjam Knörnschild ◽  
Kyle Reid ◽  
Martina Nagy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Mating Strategy ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Evolutionary Trajectory ◽  
Resource Defence ◽  
Roosting Ecology ◽  
Male Territoriality ◽  
Male Mating Strategies ◽  
The Impact

With their extraordinary species richness and diversity in ecological traits and social systems, bats are a promising taxon for testing socio-ecological hypotheses in order to get new insights into the evolution of animal social systems. Regarding its roosting habits, proboscis bats form an extreme by occupying sites which are usually completely exposed to daylight (e.g. tree trunks, vines or rocks). This is accompanied by morphological and behavioural adaptations to remain cryptic in exposed day roosts. With long-term behavioural observations and genetic parentage analyses of individually marked proboscis bats, we assessed its social dispersion and male mating strategy during day and night. Our results reveal nocturnal male territoriality—a strategy which most closely resembles a resource-defence polygyny that is frequent also in other tropical bats. Its contrasting clumped social dispersion during the day is likely to be the result of strong selection for crypsis in exposed roosts and is accompanied by direct female defence in addition to male territoriality. To the best of our knowledge, such contrasting male mating strategies within a single day–night cycle have not been described in a vertebrate species so far and illustrate a possible evolutionary trajectory from resource-defence to female-defence strategy by small ecologically driven evolutionary steps.

scholarly journals Male competition and the evolution of mating and life-history traits in experimental populations of Aedes aegypti

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1904) ◽  
pp. 20190591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alima Qureshi ◽  
Andrew Aldersley ◽  
Brian Hollis ◽  
Alongkot Ponlawat ◽  
Lauren J. Cator
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Aedes Aegypti ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Male Competition ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Male Mating Success ◽  
Reproductive Control ◽  
Evolutionary Response ◽  
Mating Conditions

Aedes aegypti is an important disease vector and a major target of reproductive control efforts. We manipulated the opportunity for sexual selection in populations of Ae . aegypti by controlling the number of males competing for a single female. Populations exposed to higher levels of male competition rapidly evolved higher male competitive mating success relative to populations evolved in the absence of competition, with an evolutionary response visible after only five generations. We also detected correlated evolution in other important mating and life-history traits, such as acoustic signalling, fecundity and body size. Our results indicate that there is ample segregating variation for determinants of male mating competitiveness in wild populations and that increased male mating success trades-off with other important life-history traits. The mating conditions imposed on laboratory-reared mosquitoes are likely a significant determinant of male mating success in populations destined for release.

scholarly journals Paternity in wild ring‐tailed lemurs ( Lemur catta ): Implications for male mating strategies

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (12) ◽  
pp. 1316-1325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joyce A. Parga ◽  
Michelle L. Sauther ◽  
Frank P. Cuozzo ◽  
Ibrahim Antho Youssouf Jacky ◽  
Richard R. Lawler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lemur Catta ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Male Mating Strategies

Sperm Competition and the Dynamics of X Chromosome Drive: Stability and Extinction

Genetics ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 160 (4) ◽  
pp. 1721-1731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesse E Taylor ◽  
John Jaenike
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Sperm Competition ◽  
X Chromosome ◽  
Sex Chromosome ◽  
Basin Of Attraction ◽  
Male Mating ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Mating Rate ◽  
Female Mating ◽  
Balanced Polymorphism

AbstractSeveral empirical studies of sperm competition in populations polymorphic for a driving X chromosome have revealed that Sex-ratio males (those carrying a driving X) are at a disadvantage relative to Standard males. Because the frequency of the driving X chromosome determines the population-level sex ratio and thus alters male and female mating rates, the evolutionary consequences of sperm competition for sex chromosome meiotic drive are subtle. As the SR allele increases in frequency, the ratio of females to males also increases, causing an increase in the male mating rate and a decrease in the female mating rate. While the former change may exacerbate the disadvantage of Sex-ratio males during sperm competition, the latter change decreases the incidence of sperm competition within the population. We analyze a model of the effects of sperm competition on a driving X chromosome and show that these opposing trends in male and female mating rates can result in two coexisting locally stable equilibria, one corresponding to a balanced polymorphism of the SR and ST alleles and the second to fixation of the ST allele. Stochastic fluctuations of either the population sex ratio or the SR frequency can then drive the population away from the balanced polymorphism and into the basin of attraction for the second equilibrium, resulting in fixation of the SR allele and extinction of the population.

scholarly journals Unique Patterns of Mating Pheromone Presence and Absence could Result in the Ambiguous Sexual Behaviours of Colletotrichum Species

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Melissa Wilson ◽  
RV Lelwala ◽  
PWJ Taylor ◽  
MJ Wingfield ◽  
BD WINGFIELD
Keyword(s):  
Mating Type ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Mating Partner ◽  
Filamentous Ascomycete ◽  
Sexual Behaviours ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ascomycete Fungi ◽  
Presence And Absence ◽  
Sexual Progeny

Abstract Background: Colletotrichum species are known to engage in unique sexual behaviours that differ significantly from the mating strategies of other filamentous ascomycete species. Most ascomycete fungi require the expression of both the MAT1-1-1 and MAT1-2-1 genes to regulate mating type and induce sexual reproduction. In contrast, all isolates of Colletotrichum are known to harbour only the MAT1-2-1 gene and yet, are capable of recognizing suitable mating partners and producing sexual progeny. The molecular mechanisms contributing to mating types and behaviours in Colletotrichum are thus unknown. Results: A comparative genomics approach analysing genomes from 47 Colletotrichum isolates was used to elucidate a putative molecular mechanism underlying the unique sexual behaviours observed in Colletotrichum species. The existence of only the MAT1-2 idiomorph was confirmed across all species included in this study. Comparisons at the loci harbouring the two mating pheromones and their cognate receptors revealed interesting patterns of gene presence and absence as well as gene loss. The results also showed that these genes have been lost multiple times over the evolutionary history of this genus. Conclusion: The multiple losses of the pheromone genes in these species suggest strong selection against the typical mating strategies seen in other species. This further suggests that these pheromones no longer play a role in mating type determination and that the species of this genus have undiscovered mechanisms by which to control mating type and mating partner recognition. This research thus provides a base from which further interrogation of this topic can take place.

Variation in optimal human mating strategies: Effects of individual differences in competence and self-regulatory mechanisms

2000 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Alley
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Mating Strategy ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Regulatory Mechanisms ◽  
Behavioral Competence ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
Strategic Pluralism ◽  
Human Mating ◽  
The Impact

Several suggestions are made for revision of Strategic Pluralism Theory (SPT). One revision requires recognition of the impact of individual differences in cognitive and behavioral competence on optimal mating strategy. In addition, SPT may need to incorporate certain self-regulatory processes such as the impact of widespread valuation of mates with one trait on their availability.

Frequent mating reduces male mating rate but not offspring quality or quantity in a neriid fly

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 915-927
Author(s):  
Erin L. Macartney ◽  
Russell Bonduriansky ◽  
Angela J. Crean
Keyword(s):  
Male Mating ◽  
Offspring Quality ◽  
Mating Rate
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