It's All Who You Know: The Evolution Of Socially Cued Anticipatory Plasticity As A Mating Strategy

Kasumovic, Michael M.; Brooks, Robert C.

doi:10.1086/661119

Cited by 122 publications

(133 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…This study shows that female fairy-wrens increased teaching effort to embryos after receiving acoustical information about the threat of brood parasitism during incubation. In a separate study, we showed increased predation risk at nests with high incubation call rate [26], which likely explains why female fairy-wrens only increase call rate when the risk of cuckoo parasitism is high. The benefits to the embryos of learning could be numerous, including a lifelong trajectory of learning in unpredictable environments [27].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Females that experience threat are better teachers

2014

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Superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) females use an incubation call to teach their embryos a vocal password to solicit parental feeding care after hatching. We previously showed that high call rate by the female was correlated with high call similarity in fairy-wren chicks, but not in cuckoo chicks, and that parent birds more often fed chicks with high call similarity. Hosts should be selected to increase their defence behaviour when the risk of brood parasitism is highest, such as when cuckoos are present in the area. Therefore, we experimentally test whether hosts increase call rate to embryos in the presence of a singing Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo (Chalcites basalis). Female fairy-wrens increased incubation call rate when we experimentally broadcast cuckoo song near the nest. Embryos had higher call similarity when females had higher incubation call rate. We interpret the findings of increased call rate as increased teaching effort in response to a signal of threat.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Females that experience threat are better teachers

2014

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“…The responses of males to the presence of same sex conspecifics can include differential investment in reproductive tissue during development (Kasumovic and Brooks 2011), strategic ejaculation of sperm (Wedell et al 2002), and behavioral plasticity (Bretman et al 2011a). In D. melanogaster, males increase mating duration ) and modulate ejaculate composition following exposure to a conspecific potential rival male (Wigby et al 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomic responses to the socio-sexual environment in male Drosophila melanogaster exposed to conspecific rivals

Mohorianu

Bretman

Smith

et al. 2017

RNA

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Socio-sexual environments have profound effects on fitness. Local sex ratios can alter the threat of sexual competition, to which males respond via plasticity in reproductive behaviors and ejaculate composition. In Drosophila melanogaster, males detect the presence of conspecific, same-sex mating rivals prior to mating using multiple, redundant sensory cues. Males that respond to rivals gain significant fitness benefits by altering mating duration and ejaculate composition. Here we investigated the underlying genome-wide changes involved. We used RNA-seq to analyze male transcriptomic responses 2, 26, and 50 h after exposure to rivals, a time period that was previously identified as encompassing the major facets of male responses to rivals. The results showed a strong early activation of multiple sensory genes in the head-thorax (HT), prior to the expression of any phenotypic differences. This gene expression response was reduced by 26 h, at the time of maximum phenotypic change, and shut off by 50 h. In the abdomen (A), fewer genes changed in expression and gene expression responses appeared to increase over time. The results also suggested that different sets of functionally equivalent genes might be activated in different replicates. This could represent a mechanism by which robustness is conferred upon highly plastic traits. Overall, our study reveals that mRNA-seq can identify subtle genomic signatures characteristic of flexible behavioral phenotypes.

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“…Female mating preferences may also vary depending on extrinsic factors such as predation risks (Forsgren 1992;Hedrick and Dill 1993;Johnson and Basolo 2003), the presence of competitors (Fawcett and Johnstone 2003), social experience (Hebets 2003;Tudor and Morris 2009;Rutledge et al 2010;Bailey 2011), and the physical environment (Gordon and Uetz 2011). Specifically, the effects of previous social experience on subsequent mate preferences, an example of Bsocially cued anticipatory plasticity^or SCAP (Kasumovic and Brooks 2011), have been increasingly studied over the last decade due to the impact of female preferences on the evolution Communicated by M. Elgar of mating signals (Jennions and Petrie 1997;Kasumovic and Brooks 2011;Verzijden et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SCAP in mating preferences based on the availability of potential mates would presumably be selected for over time, as long as social conditions of the past (e.g., high encounter rates or encounters with multiple males) accurately convey what the future social environment will be like. Consequently, SCAP would lead to behaviors (e.g., maintaining strict preferences for males with particular phenotypes or relaxing preferences) that are advantageous during mating decisions (Kasumovic and Brooks 2011). This study aims to determine whether SCAP in female selectivity is best predicted by previous experience with varying encounter rates and/or simultaneous encounters with multiple males.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Stoffer

Uetz

2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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While female preferences may vary depending on population-level differences in density or sex ratio, factors affecting mate choice may act at the individual level, i.e., females may encounter males with varying frequency or encounter multiple males simultaneously. The Bsocially cued anticipatory plasticity^hypothesis suggests that females may bias mate preferences based on prior experience. In the wolf spider, Schizocosa ocreata, males typically mature before females, allowing females to experience male courtship before maturation. Using video playback, we simulated differences in the encounter rate and the number of males simultaneously encountered to examine effects on female preference for a secondary sexual character (foreleg tufts). Penultimate females were exposed to video playback of zero, one, or three courting males either once every 2 days (low encounter rate) or twice per day (high encounter rate). At adulthood (week 2 post-maturity), females were presented video playback of courting males with small or large tufts to test for preferences in no-choice and two-choice designs. In two-choice (but not no-choice) presentations, female receptivity varied significantly with treatment. Females exposed to three males simultaneously at a higher encounter rate during their penultimate stage exhibited greater receptivity to large-tufted than smalltufted males as adults. Subsequent analyses revealed that females were more selective as adults if they encountered cumulatively more males during their penultimate stage, which was a repeatable trend when re-testing some individuals 3 weeks later. This study adds to the growing literature that demonstrates that invertebrates exhibit plasticity in mating preferences depending on social experience.

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It's All Who You Know: The Evolution Of Socially Cued Anticipatory Plasticity As A Mating Strategy

Cited by 122 publications

References 95 publications

Females that experience threat are better teachers

Females that experience threat are better teachers

Genomic responses to the socio-sexual environment in male Drosophila melanogaster exposed to conspecific rivals

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

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