Courtship and copulation, but not ejaculates, reduce the longevity of female field crickets (<i>Gryllus bimaculatus</i>)

Bateman, Philip W.; Ferguson, J. W. H.; Yetman, Caroline Angela

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00054.x

Cited by 34 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Although the females in our laboratory study were virgins and therefore were likely to be receptive to mating, male harassment is undoubtedly costly to females, as has been demonstrated in other insects [36,37]. Females in the low-mating-opportunity treatment had both greater POA and a stronger encapsulation response, as would be predicted if male harassment in the mating opportunity treatment caused a depressed female immune response.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Sex-biased immunity is driven by relative differences in reproductive investment

Vincent

Gwynne

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Sex differences in immunity are often observed, with males generally having a weaker immune system than females. However, recent data in a sexrole-reversed species in which females compete to mate with males suggest that sexually competitive females have a weaker immune response. These findings support the hypothesis that sexual dimorphism in immunity has evolved in response to sex-specific fitness returns of investment in traits such as parental investment and longevity, but the scarcity of data in sexreversed species prevents us from drawing general conclusions. Using an insect species in which males make a large but variable parental investment in their offspring, we use two indicators of immunocompetence to test the hypothesis that sex-biased immunity is determined by differences in parental investment. We found that when the value of paternal investment was experimentally increased, male immune investment became relatively greater than that of females. Thus, in this system, in which the direction of sexual competition is plastic, the direction of sex-biased immunity is also plastic and appears to track relative parental investment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Sex-biased immunity is driven by relative differences in reproductive investment

Vincent

Gwynne

2014

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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“…On the other hand, studies with Callosobruchus seed beetles suggested that the observed reduction in longevity was mostly due to the energetic costs a female sustained in resisting male harassment, and not due to the cost of copulation per se (Ronn et al 2006). In the field cricket G. bimaculatus , significant reductions in female longevity were observed under various levels of male courtship, however, this was not due to compounds in the ejaculate (Bateman et al 2006). Female A. aegypti can reject mating attempts by evasive flight and kicking (Jones 1974; Cator and Harrington 2011), however, the relative costs of rejection versus copulation remain to be determined.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Longevity of the female dung fly Sepsis cynipsea was reduced when females were maintained with males (Muhlhauser and Blanckenhorn 2002), and this was largely due to the cost of copulation rather than precopulatory costs of assessment and rejection. In the field cricket Gryllus bimaculatus , female longevity was reduced as a result of courtship and copulation, which was not due to receipt of semen (Bateman et al 2006). In contrast, Drosophila females do incur a longevity cost as a result of seminal fluid proteins transferred in the ejaculate (Chapman et al 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of male harassment on female fitness for the dengue vector mosquito Aedes aegypti

Helinski

Harrington

2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Sexual harassment studies in insects suggest that females can incur several kinds of costs from male harassment and mating. Here, we examined direct and indirect costs of male harassment on components of female fitness in the predominantly monandrous mosquito Aedes aegypti. To disentangle the costs of harassment versus the costs of mating, we held females at a low or high density with males whose claspers were modified to prevent insemination, and compared these to females held with normal males and to those held with females or alone. A reduced longevity was observed when females were held under high density conditions with males or females, regardless if male claspers had been modified. There was no consistent effect of harassment on female fecundity. Net reproductive rate (R0) was higher in females held at low density with normal males compared to females held with males in the other treatments, even though only a small number of females showed direct evidence of remating. Indirect costs and benefits that were not due to harassment alone were observed. Daughters of females held with normal males at high density had reduced longevity compared to daughters from females held without conspecifics. However, their fitness (R0) was higher compared to females in all other treatments. Overall, our results indicate that A. aegypti females do not suffer a fitness cost from harassment of males when kept at moderate densities, and they suggest the potential for benefits obtained from ejaculate components.

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“…On the other hand, selection might favour differences in colouration for species recognition in order to prevent energetically costly chasing and courtship displays between species. Both male harassment and courtship often result in reductions in individual fitness (Clutton‐Block & Langley, 1997; Bateman et al. , 2006; Gosden & Svensson, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interspecific sexual attraction because of convergence in warning colouration: is there a conflict between natural and sexual selection in mimetic species?

Estrada

Jiggins

2008

J of Evolutionary Biology

124

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When species converge in their colour patterns because of mimicry, and those patterns are also used in mate recognition, there is a probability of conflicting selection pressures. Closely related species that mimic one another are particularly likely to face such confusion because of similarities in their courtship behaviour and ecology. We conducted experiments in greenhouse conditions to study interspecific attraction between two mimetic butterfly species, Heliconius erato and Heliconius melpomene. Both species spent considerable time approaching and courting females of the co‐mimic species. Experiments using wing models demonstrated the importance of colour pattern in this interspecific attraction. Although males of H. melpomene were attracted to their co‐mimics as much as to their own females, H. erato males were more efficient at distinguishing conspecifics, possibly using wing odours. Although preliminary, these results suggest that the use of additional cues may have evolved in H. erato to reduce the cost of convergence in visual signals with H. melpomene. Overall, our results showed that there might be a cost of mimetic convergence because of a reduction in the efficiency of species recognition. Such cost may contribute to explain the apparently stable diversity in Müllerian mimetic patterns in many tropical butterfly assemblages.

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Courtship and copulation, but not ejaculates, reduce the longevity of female field crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus)

Cited by 34 publications

References 37 publications

Sex-biased immunity is driven by relative differences in reproductive investment

Sex-biased immunity is driven by relative differences in reproductive investment

The role of male harassment on female fitness for the dengue vector mosquito Aedes aegypti

Interspecific sexual attraction because of convergence in warning colouration: is there a conflict between natural and sexual selection in mimetic species?

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