Polyandry Promotes Enhanced Offspring Survival in Decorated Crickets

Abstract

Abstract. Although female multiple mating is ubiquitous in insects, its adaptive significance remains poorly understood. Benefits to multiple mating can accrue via direct material benefits, indirect genetic benefits, or both. We investigated the effects of multiple mating in the decorated cricket, Gryllodes sigillatus, by simultaneously varying the number of times that females mated and the number of different males with which they mated, measuring aspects of female fecundity and elements of offspring performance and viability. Multiple matings resulted in enhanced female fitness relative to single matings when females mated with different partners, but not when females mated repeatedly with the same male. Specifically, polyandrous females produced significantly more offspring surviving to reproductive maturity than did monogamous females mating once or mating repeatedly with the same male. These results suggest that the benefit females gain from multiple mating is influenced primarily by genetic and not material benefits.

Lonely hearts or sex in the city? Density-dependent effects in mating systems

“…H. Kokko & D. J. Rankin 325 ( Jennions & Petrie 2000). Whether a female is 'shopping for the best genes' (Evans & Magurran 2000;Bernasconi & Keller 2001;Hosken et al 2003;Ivy & Sakaluk 2005) or compatible genes (Tregenza & Wedell 2002), 'trading up' to find the best genetic or social mate (McNamara & Forslund 1996;Jennions & Petrie 2000), or mating with as many mates as possible (Takakura 1999) or with some intermediate optimum number (Houston et al 1997) for the sake of direct benefits, density can in every case influence the best strategy. In some cases, female mate preferences should change with density, not only in terms of the strength of the preference, but also its direction: males giving long or short calls should be preferred depending on density in grey tree frogs Hyla versicolor (Welch 2003), and female preferences in side-blotched lizards Uta stansburiana should likewise depend on the phase of the population cycle, as reproductive success of males depends on the types of morphs present in the population (Alonzo & Sinervo 2001;Sinervo & Zamudio 2001).…”

Spawning behaviour and mating success in hybrids of silver bream (Blicca bjoerkna L.) and rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus L.) in an experimental environment

“…Spawning takes place only on spawning substrate, confirming the phytophilous of the parental species (Philippart and Vranken, 1983;Nzau Matondo et al, 2009). The mating combination of the female hybrid and its three corresponding males most frequently observed, indicates that these hybrids have a polyandrous mating system which could give as in no hybrids fish species many advantages useful for the survival of offspring such as high fertility, prevention of inbreeding and maintenance genetic diversity (Kellogg et al, 1998;Arnqvist and Nilsson, 2000;Becher and Magurran, 2004;Ivy and Sakaluk, 2005). This mating system corresponds to that of the parental species (Svardson, 1949;Poncin et al, 2010) and other no hybrids fish species belonging to the Cyprinidae family and other families (Goto, 1987;Kodric-Brown, 1995;Maclnnis and Corkum, 2000).…”

Temporal effects of multiple mating on components of fitness in the two-spot ladybird, Adalia bipunctata (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

“…measured (e.g. Ivy & Sakaluk 2005). The proportion of eggs hatching also varied across time in a complicated way, again indicating that MM females gain a transient advantage.…”

“…Eady et al, 2000;Simmons, 2001;Brown et al, 2004;Jennions et al, 2004;Maklakov & Lubin, 2004). Whilst this approach is a powerful experimental tool, especially when combined with a singly-mated female control (Ivy & Sakaluk, 2005), experiments have not always replicated the often highly promiscuous mating system of the species being studied. One problem that arises is that the balance of costs and benefits of mating may be poorly estimated.…”