Male competition reverses female preference for male chemical cues

Vilella‐Pacheco, Zorimar; Mitchem, Lisa D.; Formica, Vincent A.; Brodie, Edmund D.

doi:10.1002/ece3.7348

Cited by 3 publications

References 69 publications

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Post‐Copulatory Sexual Selection in an Insect With High Levels of Mating Failure

Balfour,

Armand,

Shuker

2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Sexual selection is not a single process. Instead, multiple processes of sexual selection can interact with respect to a given phenotype, in either reinforcing, independent, or conflicting directions. Here we consider how different processes of sexual selection interact in the seed bug Lygaeus simulans. This species is characterised by limited pre‐copulatory sexual selection, but the potential for rather strong post‐copulatory sexual selection. In particular, mating failure is common in this species, with around 40%–60% of copulations failing to result in the successful transfer of sperm. Mating failure is negatively correlated with female size, with smaller females being less likely to end up inseminated. We have recently argued that this pattern is best explained by cryptic male mate choice for large, more fecund females. Males therefore preferentially inseminate larger females. Here we explore how this potential cryptic male choice interacts with another component of post‐copulatory sexual selection: sperm competition. We first manipulated male and female size variation, generating large and small, male and female, size classes. Using a visible mutant marker to assign paternity, we then double‐mated females with males, in all combinations of male and female size. Our results showed that sperm competition outcomes were primarily driven by copulation duration, with longer copulations leading to greater paternity share for a male. We also confirmed that larger females are more likely to produce offspring than smaller females, as predicted by cryptic male choice for large females. This effect was again linked to copulation duration, with longer copulations less likely to lead to mating failure. While larger males tended to be more successful in sperm competition, especially if copulating second, female size had little effect on paternity, suggesting that cryptic male choice and sperm competition are acting relatively independently in this species.

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Post‐Copulatory Sexual Selection in an Insect With High Levels of Mating Failure

Balfour,

Armand,

Shuker

2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Multilevel selection on social network traits differs between sexes in experimental populations of forked fungus beetles

et al. 2022

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Both individual and group behavior can influence individual fitness, but multilevel selection is rarely quantified on social behaviors. Social networks provide a unique opportunity to study multilevel selection on social behaviors, as they describe complex social traits and patterns of interaction at both the individual and group levels. In this study, we used contextual analysis to measure the consequences of both individual network position and group network structure on individual fitness in experimental populations of forked fungus beetles (Bolitotherus cornutus) with two different resource distributions. We found that males with high individual connectivity (strength) and centrality (betweenness) had higher mating success. However, group network structure did not influence their mating success. Conversely, we found that individual network position had no effect on female reproductive success but that females in populations with many social interactions experienced lower reproductive success. The strength of individual-level selection in males and group-level selection in females intensified when resources were clumped together, showing that habitat structure influences multilevel selection. Individual and emergent group social behavior both influence variation in components of individual fitness, but impact the male mating success and female reproductive success differently, setting up intersexual conflicts over patterns of social interactions at multiple levels.

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Species-typical chemical signals mediate reproductive isolation in a teleost fish

Holland

Rosenthal

2022

Preprint

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Pheromones play an important role in conspecific mate preference across taxa, but the mechanisms underlying the pheromonal basis of reproductive isolation in vertebrates are poorly understood. In swordtail fish (genus Xiphophorus), conspecific mate preference depends on female perception of male urine-borne pheromone signals. We focused on interspecific differences between the sympatric X. birchmanni and X. malinche, which form natural hybrid zones as a consequence of changes in water chemistry. Here we show that pheromones are localized to the testis and use solid phase extraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography / mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) to characterize pheromone chemical composition. Analyzing HPLC/MS readouts for pure peaks with high relative intensity identified two distinct chemical components present in X. birchmanni but absent in X. malinche. Experimental manipulation of signal composition showed that the presence of these components is critical to conspecific mate preference by X. birchmanni. Characterizing chemical signals allows for powerful tests of how they interact with the environment and receiver perception, thereby contributing to both the maintenance and breakdown of reproductive isolation.

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Male competition reverses female preference for male chemical cues

Cited by 3 publications

References 69 publications

Post‐Copulatory Sexual Selection in an Insect With High Levels of Mating Failure

Post‐Copulatory Sexual Selection in an Insect With High Levels of Mating Failure

Multilevel selection on social network traits differs between sexes in experimental populations of forked fungus beetles

Species-typical chemical signals mediate reproductive isolation in a teleost fish

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