Intersexual differences in density‐dependent dispersal and their evolutionary drivers

Plazio, Elisa; Margol, Tomasz; Nowicki, Piotr

doi:10.1111/jeb.13688

Cited by 17 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Although most evidence for male sex-biased dispersal comes from mammals and birds (review: Li and Kokko 2019), laboratory studies such as Downey et al (2015) and Mishra et al (2020), which measured dispersal as crawling distance, show male-biased dispersal in insects like Callosobruchus and Drosophila respectively. A recent study also showed male biased dispersal in butterflies during the early breeding season, but female biased dispersal during the late season (Plazio et al 2020), suggesting that these differences were due to different reproductive strategies of males and females, which could also be the case in C. maculatus.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Sex- and trait-specific silver-spoon effects of developmental environments, on ageing

et al. 2021

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The environment organisms experience during development can have effects which carry over into their adult lives. These environments not only affect adult traits at a given point in time, but also how these traits change with age. Generally, favorable developmental environments lead to more optimal adult traits while stressful environments are deleterious ("silver-spoon effect"). But whether developmental environments affect how whole-organism performance traits change with age or whether they affect males and females differently lacks evidence. Here, we test whether experiencing favorable developmental environments leads to "silver-spoon effects" on life-history traits and whole-organism flight performance of males and females by manipulating developmental density in Callosobruchus maculatus. We further test whether such effects are mediated by an individual's reproductive status by comparing traits of mated versus virgin females. We show that although developmental crowding has no effect on flight performance of either sex, on male adult lifespan, or on female age-dependent survival, it is detrimental to female lifespan and fecundity, as well as female age-dependent reproduction, suggesting that females are more sensitive to differences in developmental density. Additionally, we show that flight traits change with age and differ not only between males and females, which is reflective of sex-specific lifehistories and behavior, but also between virgin and mated females. Our study is important for understanding sex-specific responses to developmental environments in life-history, behavioral, and ecologically important traits which may affect resource allocation, dispersal, and mating strategies, hence fitness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Sex- and trait-specific silver-spoon effects of developmental environments, on ageing

et al. 2021

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“…From a behavioural perspective, females of P. teleius perform short-duration but frequent flights and devote more time to rest and oviposition, while males spend more time flying to explore their surroundings for receptive females [ 73 ]. Accordingly, male dispersal is typically promoted by the scarcity of females, while female dispersal is promoted by the lack of resources for oviposition [ 74 ]. This could easily explain the fact that, in our study, female dispersal increased more pronouncedly after mowing, which diminishes the availability of oviposition sites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Movements of a Specialist Butterfly in Relation to Mowing Management of Its Habitat Patches

Popović

Nowicki

2023

Biology

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Over the centuries, mowing and grazing have been crucial for sustaining populations of grassland insects and their overall diversity in Europe. While long-term positive effects of mowing have been studied in more detail, little is known about the direct impacts of mowing on adult butterflies. Here, we explore how different habitat management (mown, recovered after mowing and unmown) affects movements and population estimates of the endangered specialist butterfly Phengaris teleius. The results showed higher dispersal probability from mown (22%) and recovered meadows (16%) than from the unmown ones (9%). However, mowing shortened the average dispersal distances (mown = 102 m, recovered = 198 m, unmown = 246 m) and reduced butterfly population size. In contrast, a larger area of the habitat patches promoted long-distance dispersal and sustained larger populations. We hypothesise that mowing caused depletion of resources and triggered dispersal of poorly adapted individuals. This behaviour is maladaptive and could lead to higher dispersal-related mortality; thus, mowing should be avoided before and during the butterfly flight period. This study suggests that the species’ persistence in a fragmented landscape depends on large, unmown and interconnected habitats that support more viable populations, promote long-distance dispersal, and enable (re)colonisation of vacant patches.

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“…This intersexual difference was also recorded in other butterfly species, with females spending less time in flight, but covering larger distances and dispersing more often [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. Such behaviour enables females to spread their eggs over a larger area, thus reducing potential intraspecific competition among their offspring [ 37 ]. On the other hand, male behaviour enables them to efficiently locate receptive females around their hatching place.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intersexual Differences in Behaviour and Resource Use of Specialist Phengaris teleius Butterflies

Popović

Golubović

Nowicki

2022

Insects

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Although the behaviour of the Large Blue butterflies of the genus Phengaris (= Maculinea) is relatively well studied, most empirical data come from investigations of their dispersal and oviposition. Here, we assessed overall intersexual differences in resource use by tracking Phengaris teleius (Bergsträsser, 1779) individuals and recording the duration of their behaviours. Females were characterised by frequent, short flights, and devoted more time to resting and oviposition. Males engaged in numerous, but usually short interactions, and spent most of the time in flight exploring their surroundings for receptive females. Their average flight time was significantly longer compared to females. Average feeding time did not differ between the sexes but was shorter when butterflies were feeding on Sanguisorba officinalis L. Intraspecific interactions within P. teleius were three times longer than those with other insect species, and interactions between sexes were particularly long lasting. Significantly shorter interspecific interactions imply that butterflies can easily recognise conspecifics and differentiate between sexes, which offers obvious fitness benefits. Both sexes, but especially females, showed strong association with their larval host plant, and less so with other flowers of similar colour and shape. Females predominantly used their host plant for feeding, which possibly indicates neuro-sensory constraints towards this resource.

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Intersexual differences in density‐dependent dispersal and their evolutionary drivers

Cited by 17 publications

References 58 publications

Sex- and trait-specific silver-spoon effects of developmental environments, on ageing

Sex- and trait-specific silver-spoon effects of developmental environments, on ageing

Movements of a Specialist Butterfly in Relation to Mowing Management of Its Habitat Patches

Intersexual Differences in Behaviour and Resource Use of Specialist Phengaris teleius Butterflies

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