Changes in courtship behaviour following rejection: The influence of female phenotype in Drosophila melanogaster

Abstract

Courtship can be costly and so selection should favour individual males that reduce courtship towards female types that have a low probability of resulting in copulation. One way males can do this is by associating previous courtship failure with the traits of particular rejecting females. We characterised changes in male Drosophila melanogaster courtship behaviour following a failed mating attempt with one of the four female phenotypes that varied in size, age or mating status. To do this, we assessed individual courtship behaviour for each male presented again with a female of the same phenotype that previously rejected him. Males reduced subsequent courtship most strongly for recently mated (sexually non‐receptive) females. More interestingly, males also significantly reduced courtship activity following a failed mating experience from old females but did not do so for control (large, young, virgin) or small females. As such, males significantly reduced courtship towards both female types possessing chemical cues associated with their phenotype (age and mating status), but not towards a female phenotype based on physical characteristics (body size). Our results suggest that males are able to modify their courtship behaviour following experience, but that they are better prepared to associate chemical traits that may be more reliable indicators of the likelihood of courtship failure.

Does sexual experience affect the strength of male mate choice for high‐quality females in Drosophila melanogaster?

“…The finding that a single mating or rejection experience did not affect the strength of male mate choice for large females was surprising given the plasticity based on sexual experience that has been reported for other male preferences in this species (Balaban-Feld & Valone, 2018;Dukas, 2004;Dukas & Dukas, 2012;Ejima et al, 2005). One possibility is that the preference seen in virgin males is too strong to be altered by sexual experience.…”

“…Mating is not the only sexual experience that could potentially modify male mate choice. A single rejection experience has been shown to alter D. melanogaster male courtship preferences based on female age (Balaban-Feld & Valone, 2018), mating status (Dukas & Dukas, 2012), and species (Dukas, 2004;Dukas & Dukas, 2012).…”

“…An important consideration of our study, however, is that males only encountered a non‐competitive environment for both the sexual experience phase and the male mate choice trials. Although non‐competitive conditions were also used in studies that found an effect of experience on other male preferences (Balaban‐Feld & Valone, 2018; Dukas, 2004; Dukas & Dukas, 2012; Ejima et al, 2005), courtship plasticity might be more strongly favored in a male–male competitive environment if males are able to use their experience to gain information about their expected future success with large females relative to other males (as predicted by Fawcett & Bleay, 2009).…”

“…In contrast, males that had mated with a simulated-mated female (i.e., a virgin female treated with the pheromones of mated females) subsequently increased their courtship toward mated females (Dukas & Dukas, 2012). Males can similarly use pheromones to discriminate between D. melanogaster females of different ages and will suppress courtship toward the type of female that had previously rejected them (Balaban-Feld & Valone, 2018;Ejima et al, 2005). Additionally, D. melanogaster males that had been rejected by a female from the closely related species D. simulans subsequently courted D. simulans females less than inexperienced males (Dukas, 2004;Dukas & Dukas, 2012), as did D. melanogaster males that had previously mated with a conspecific female (Dukas & Dukas, 2012).…”

Contraceptive and biochemical effect of juice extract of Allium cepa , Allium sativum , and their combination in Canton S fruit flies

“…To combat ROS generation, organisms utilize enzymes including SOD to protect cellular homeostasis in response to oxidative stress (Balaban‐Feld & Valone, 2018). The rise in the onion, garlic, onion + garlic groups in the SOD levels shows the lack of ROS.…”