A cost of mating in female fruitflies

Fowler, Kevin; Partridge, Linda

doi:10.1038/338760a0

Cited by 506 publications

(412 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Initially we cultivated the outbred Dahomey stock ( Fowler & Partridge 1989) at 50 eggs/vial for three generations (12 : 12 light/ dark, 248C, and 60% RH). We then collected 330 virgin females, with brief CO 2 anaesthesia, and placed them in individual vials.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cross-generational fitness benefits of mating and male seminal fluid

2007

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In many species, the physical act of mating and exposure to accessory gland proteins (Acps) in male seminal fluid reduces female survival and offspring production. It is not clear what males gain from harming their sexual partners or why females mate frequently despite being harmed. Using sterile strains of Drosophila melanogaster that differ in their production of Acps, we found that both the physical act of mating and exposure to male seminal fluid in mothers increase the fitness of daughters. We show that the changes in daughter fitness are mediated by parental effects, not by sexual selection involving good genes or owing to variation in maternal egg production. These results support the idea that male harm of females might partly evolve through cross-generational fitness benefits.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There appear to be no nutritional benefits of exposure to Acps for mothers (Chapman et al 1994). Mating and exposure to Acps reduce female survival and fertility (Fowler & Partridge 1989;Chapman et al 1995). These costs of mating to mothers are also associated with improved fitness of daughters (Priest et al in press).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cross-generational fitness benefits of mating and male seminal fluid

2007

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“…In fruit flies, the seminal gland products that are transferred during the mating increase female mortality (Fowler and Partridge 1989;Chapman et al 1995). In the copepod T. longicornis, the repeated exposure to males reduces the longevity of the females (Hylstofte and Kiørboe 2011).…”

Section: Multiple Mating and Mate Choicementioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal mate choice patterns in pelagic copepods

2012

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The importance of sexual selection for the evolution, dynamics and adaptation of organisms is well known for many species. However, the topic is rarely studied in marine plankton, the basis of the marine food web. Copepods show behaviors that suggest the existence of sexually selected traits, and recent laboratory experiments identified some selected morphological traits. Here, we use a 'life history-based' model of sex roles to determine the optimal choosiness behavior of male and female copepods for important copepod traits. Copepod females are predicted to be choosy at population densities typically occurring during the main breeding season, whereas males are not. The main drivers of this pattern are population density and the difference in non-receptive periods between males and females. This suggests that male reproductive traits have evolved mainly due to mate competition. The model can easily be parameterized for other planktonic organisms, and be used to plan experiments about sexual selection.

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“…The most notorious example of such`by-product con£ict' is the toxicity of male seminal-£uid proteins in Drosophila melanogaster (Fowler & Partridge 1989;Chapman et al 1995) and Caenorhabditis elegans (Gems & Riddle 1996). Certain unidenti¢ed seminal proteins are known to increase the risk of female mortality.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Males' evolutionary responses to experimental removal of sexual selection

Pitnick

Miller

Reagan

et al. 2001

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

199

193

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We evaluated the in£uence of pre-and post-copulatory sexual selection upon male reproductive traits in a naturally promiscuous species, Drosophila melanogaster. Sexual selection was removed in two replicate populations through enforced monogamous mating with random mate assignment or retained in polyandrous controls. Monogamous mating eliminates all opportunities for mate competition, mate discrimination, sperm competition, cryptic female choice and, hence, sexual con£ict. Levels of divergence between lines in sperm production and male ¢tness traits were quanti¢ed after 38^81 generations of selection. Three a priori predictions were tested: (i) male investment in spermatogenesis will be lower in monogamy-line males due to the absence of sperm competition selection, (ii) due to the evolution of increased male benevolence, the ¢tness of females paired with monogamy-line males will be higher than that of females paired with control-line males, and (iii) monogamy-line males will exhibit decreased competitive reproductive success relative to control-line males. The ¢rst two predictions were supported, whereas the third prediction was not. Monogamy males evolved a smaller body size and the size of their testes and the number of sperm within the testes were disproportionately further reduced. In contrast, the ¢tness of monogamous males (and their mates) was greater when reproducing in a non-competitive context: females mated once with monogamous males produced o¡spring at a faster rate and produced a greater total number of surviving progeny than did females mated to control males. The results indicate that sexual selection favours the production of increased numbers of sperm in D. melanogaster and that sexual selection favours some male traits conferring a direct cost to the fecundity of females.

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A cost of mating in female fruitflies

Cited by 506 publications

References 23 publications

Cross-generational fitness benefits of mating and male seminal fluid

Cross-generational fitness benefits of mating and male seminal fluid

Optimal mate choice patterns in pelagic copepods

Males' evolutionary responses to experimental removal of sexual selection

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