Female mate choice plasticity is affected by the interaction between male density and female age in a field cricket

Along came a spider who sat down beside her: Perceived predation risk, but not female age, affects female mate choosiness

“…Our age categories were based on previous research showing adult female crickets are usually responsive to mating starting at about 7-10 days of adult age and normally are not older than about 28 days of adult age in the field (Zuk, 1987;Murray and Cade, 1995;Judge et al, 2010). We have also shown an effect of an interaction between female age and male density on female choosiness when using females near this age range (Atwell and Wagner, 2014).…”

“…Because association time has been found to correlate with female choice (White and Galef, 1999;Morris et al, 2010;Beckers and Wagner, 2011), we measured choosiness as the amount of time a female spent within 26 cm of the broadcasting speaker (known as the Choice Zone) (Wagner et al, 2001;Wagner and Basolo, 2007;Wagner, 2011, 2013). The less time a female spent in association with the low quality male song, the more choosy we considered the female (Atwell and Wagner, 2014). At the completion of the trial, the floor of the arena and the speaker were wiped down with 10% isopropynol to control for any cues the female cricket may have left behind (see Gray, 1999;Champagnon and Cueva del Castillo, 2008).…”

“…For instance, females have been shown to exhibit plasticity in choosiness dependent upon age, but only when on low-quantity diets (Wilgers and Hebets, 2012) or in female-biased social environments (Tinghitella et al, 2013). Female mate choosiness has also been shown to be influenced by changes in male density, but only when females are young (Atwell and Wagner, 2014), or by changes in male density or female age, but not their interaction (Tinghitella, 2014). Our goal in this study was to assess how the interaction between perceived predation risk and female age affects plasticity in female mate choosiness.…”

“…Thus, G. lineaticeps and its predator, Hogna sp., are an excellent model system to study the interaction of perceived predation risk and female age. Female G. lineaticeps are known to prefer higher male chirp rates (Wagner, 2011), and choosiness can be measured by the acceptance of lower chirp rates; the more time a female spends around a low chirp rate call, the less choosy the female (Wagner et al, 2001;Atwell and Wagner, 2014). We predicted that perceived predation risk and female age would have an interacting effect on female mate choosiness.…”

The effects of social experience with varying male availability on female mate preferences in a wolf spider

“…While the relationship between total males and the likelihood for females to be receptive to males with small tufts is negative, it is not significant (logistic regression Z=1.586, P=0.1130). Vertical lines indicate the standard error of the predicted probability of the logistic regression fit invertebrate species adds to current research that demonstrates that invertebrate behaviors are not rigid in their matingpref- erences (butterflies: Westerman et al 2012pref- erences (butterflies: Westerman et al , 2014 crickets: Bailey and Zuk 2008;Bailey 2011;Kasumovic et al 2012;Bailey and Macleod 2014;Atwell and Wagner 2014; fruit flies: Dukas 2005; katydids: Fowler-Finn and Rodriguez 2012; wolf spiders: Hebets 2003;Hebets and Vink 2007;Hebets 2007; …”