Shorter effective lifespan in laboratory populations ofD. melanogastermight reduce sexual selection

Abstract

The role of sexual selection in mediating levels of sexual conflict has been demonstrated in a number of experimental evolution studies on Drosophila sp. where the level of competition among males for fertilization success was under direct selection. Here we report that selection for a short development time and early age at reproduction can lead to inadvertent changes in levels of sexual selection in D. melanogaster populations, affecting reproductive competition experienced by males. We demonstrate that faster developing and early reproducing populations showed very low levels of mating in their lifetime (likely being monogamous), low courtship levels, shorter copulation duration and longer maturation time, compared to their ancestral controls. We discuss these results in light of the previously demonstrated reduction of sexual conflict in these populations.

Evolution of reduced mate harming tendency of males inDrosophila melanogasterpopulations selected for faster life history

“…The copyright holder for this preprint this version posted November 2, 2021. ; https://doi.org/10. 1101/2021 In an independent investigation on a similar set of experimentally evolved populations, (Mital et al 2021a;Mital et al 2021b) found that the intensity of sexual selection and the degree of sexual antagonism to be lower in populations selected for faster development and very early reproduction. The parallel between our results and those of (Mital et al 2021a;Mital et al 2021b) is somewhat expected, and is a robust proof in support of our theory.…”