The conditional economics of sexual conflict

Fricke, Claudia; Perry, Jennifer C.; Chapman, Tracey; Rowe, Locke

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0433

Cited by 79 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…While male grasping traits are quite well studied, there is in general little knowledge of corresponding female morphological adaptations [10]. A notable exception to this lack of examples comes from water striders, where males have organs that aid in grasping a female during mating and females have corresponding genital spines that repel males and thus serve to increase female control in mating interactions [11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male clasping ability, female polymorphism and sexual conflict: fine-scale elytral morphology as a sexually antagonistic adaptation in female diving beetles

Green

Kovalev

Svensson

et al. 2013

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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During sexual conflict, males and females are expected to evolve traits and behaviours with a sexually antagonistic function. Recently, sexually antagonistic coevolution was proposed to occur between male and female diving beetles (Dytiscidae). Male diving beetles possess numerous suction cups on their forelegs whereas females commonly have rough structures on their elytra. These rough structures have been suggested to obstruct adhesion from male suction cups during mating attempts. However, some diving beetle species are dimorphic, where one female morph has a rough elytra and the other has a smooth elytra. Here, we used biomechanics to study the adhesive performance of male suction cups on the female morphs in two diving beetle species: Dytiscus lapponicus and Graphoderus zonatus. We compared adhesion on the rough and the smooth female morphs to infer the function of the rough elytral modifications. We found that the adhesive force on the rough structures was much lower than on other surfaces. These findings support the suggestion of sexual conflict in diving beetles and a sexually antagonistic function of the rough female structures. In addition, males differed in their adhesive capacity on different female surfaces, indicating a male trade-off between adhering to smooth and rough female morphs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male clasping ability, female polymorphism and sexual conflict: fine-scale elytral morphology as a sexually antagonistic adaptation in female diving beetles

Green

Kovalev

Svensson

et al. 2013

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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show abstract

“…Consequently, researchers have addressed how environmental variability influences sexual conflict, as changes in environmental conditions have the potential to redraw the adaptive landscape for a shared trait, but such studies are few in number (Fricke et al, 2009).…”

Section: New Phytologist Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environment-dependent intralocus sexual conflict in a dioecious plant

et al. 2011

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Summary Intralocus sexual conflict is a form of conflict that does not involve direct interactions between males and females. It arises when selection on a shared trait with a common genetic basis differs between the sexes. Environmental factors, such as resource availability, may influence the expression and evolutionary outcome of such conflict. We quantified the genetic variance‐covariance matrix, G, for both sexes of Silene latifolia for floral and leaf traits, as well as the between‐sex matrix, B. We also quantified selection on the sexes via survival for 2 yr in four natural populations that varied in water availability. Environment‐dependent intralocus sexual conflict exists for specific leaf area, a trait that is genetically correlated between the sexes. Males experienced significant negative selection, but only in populations with relatively limited water availability. Females experienced weakly positive or significant stabilizing selection on the same trait. Specific leaf area is genetically correlated with flower size and number, which are sexually dimorphic in this species. The extent of intralocus sexual conflict varied with the environment. Resolution of such conflict is likely to be confounded, given that specific leaf area is highly genetically integrated with other traits that are also divergent between the sexes.

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“…Drosophila melanogaster has been used as a model organism to study male-female coevolution, and the economics of sexual conflict are well-known for this species [38,39]. The cost of sexual conflict in this system is substantial and has been estimated to reduce female fitness by at least 20 per cent [40].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of sexual harassment on lethal mutation rate in femaleDrosophila melanogaster

et al. 2013

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The rate by which new mutations are introduced into a population may have far-reaching implications for processes at the population level. Theory assumes that all individuals within a population have the same mutation rate, but this assumption may not be true. Compared with individuals in high condition, those in poor condition may have fewer resources available to invest in DNA repair, resulting in elevated mutation rates. Alternatively, environmentally induced stress can result in increased investment in DNA repair at the expense of reproduction. Here, we directly test whether sexual harassment by males, known to reduce female condition, affects female capacity to alleviate DNA damage in Drosophila melanogaster fruitflies. Female gametes can repair double-strand DNA breaks in sperm, which allows manipulating mutation rate independently from female condition. We show that male harassment strongly not only reduces female fecundity, but also reduces the yield of dominant lethal mutations, supporting the hypothesis that stressed organisms invest relatively more in repair mechanisms. We discuss our results in the light of previous research and suggest that social effects such as density and courtship can play an important and underappreciated role in mediating condition-dependent mutation rate.

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The conditional economics of sexual conflict

Cited by 79 publications

References 28 publications

Male clasping ability, female polymorphism and sexual conflict: fine-scale elytral morphology as a sexually antagonistic adaptation in female diving beetles

Male clasping ability, female polymorphism and sexual conflict: fine-scale elytral morphology as a sexually antagonistic adaptation in female diving beetles

Environment-dependent intralocus sexual conflict in a dioecious plant

The effect of sexual harassment on lethal mutation rate in femaleDrosophila melanogaster

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