Reproductive Trade-Offs and Direct Costs for Males in Arthropods

Scharf, Inon; Peter, Franziska; Martin, Oliver Y.

doi:10.1007/s11692-012-9213-4

Cited by 110 publications

(114 citation statements)

References 150 publications

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“…effort in wild males than females [7]. Also, while it has become an accepted notion that reproduction is costly for males as well [8][9][10], studies dealing with costs of reproduction in males are often rooted in the theory of sexual selection and therefore refer to the cost of producing or maintaining sexual traits on future survival [8] (see [11] for a recent review on the relationship between strength of sexual selection and age-specific survival patterns across vertebrates). Investigating reproductive costs in males specifically through the covariations between life-history traits (also called direct fitness traits sensu Roff [4], i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive costs in terrestrial male vertebrates: insights from bird studies

2016

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Reproduction requires resources that cannot be allocated to other functions resulting in direct reproductive costs (i.e. trade-offs between current reproduction and subsequent survival/reproduction). In wild vertebrates, direct reproductive costs have been widely described in females, but their occurrence in males remains to be explored. To fill this gap, we gathered 53 studies on 48 species testing direct reproductive costs in male vertebrates. We found a trade-off between current reproduction and subsequent performances in 29% of the species and in every clade. As 73% of the studied species are birds, we focused on that clade to investigate whether such trade-offs are associated with (i) levels of paternal care, (ii) polygyny or (iii) pace of life. More precisely for this third question, it is expected that fast species (i.e. short lifespan, early maturity, high fecundity) pay a cost in terms of survival, whereas slow species (with opposite characteristics) do so in terms of fecundity. Our findings tend to support this hypothesis. Finally, we pointed out the potential confounding effects that should be accounted for when investigating reproductive costs in males and strongly encourage the investigation of such costs in more clades to understand to what extent our results are relevant for other vertebrates.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproductive costs in terrestrial male vertebrates: insights from bird studies

2016

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“…Thus, the need to produce a significant number of spermatozoa would be linked to the possibility of filling many spermatophores and thus being able to inseminate many different females (Parker & Pizzari 2010;Vahed & Parker 2012). A high successive ejaculate investment often reduces the number of females that a male can inseminate and may reduce the male's longevity (Scharf et al 2013). Although the spermatophore is a sclerotized structure, the volume of ejaculate may change as the variation coefficient of the ejaculate in our analysis suggests.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

From storage to delivery: sperm volume and number of spermatozoa inside storage organs and ejaculates in males ofTimogenes elegans(Scorpiones: Bothriuridae)

Vrech

Olivero

Mattoni

et al. 2018

Journal of Arachnology

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Abstract. Sperm competition influences the evolution of many reproductive traits such as gonads, sperm or genitalia. Many sperm competition analyses concentrate in testes and ejaculates. Among arachnids, scorpions constitute an intriguing taxon for examining sperm production and usage. For example, in the family Bothriuridae the females of Timogenes elegans Mello-Leitão, 1931 accept more than one male per reproductive season and males produce spermatozoa continuously, storing them inside two elastic storage organs (i.e., two seminal vesicles plus two deferent ducts) before inseminating females, using a sclerotized spermatophore. In this study, we analyzed the sperm storage organs and the ejaculate volume transferred by T. elegans. We described the volume and number of spermatozoa at storage sites and in ejaculates, and investigated ejaculate volume and concentration in remating experiences. Storage organs varied in total size. Inside the spermatophore, the volume of the sperm drop represented 38% of the volume of both sperm storage sites. The remaining space around the sperm drop is filled with a gel-like substance. The ejaculate volume and spermatozoa number did not vary significantly between consecutive matings. Timogenes elegans stored abundant sperm inside the seminal vesicles. Available sperm was divided equally between both storage organs, and ejaculates were diluted in the spermatophore, presumably, with the gel stored in the trunk. There was no effect of body condition over any of the variables analyzed. Male sperm storage and ejaculate production are discussed considering the sperm depletion hypothesis and the sperm competition theory.

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“…11: 20140603 choosy, not only expressed a lack of SSB, but also did not mate with every female they encountered. The evolution of male choosiness is generally predicted if mating is costly [12,13]; however, we cannot rule out the possibility that the males kept at higher female density reduced their subsequent mating activity due to exhaustion or lower sperm count caused by multiple mating. We can, however, exclude that the lower mating rate is caused by a general higher beetle density, as males housed with one or several males copulated frequently and showed high levels of SSB.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Acceptance threshold theory can explain occurrence of homosexual behaviour

et al. 2015

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Same-sex sexual behaviour (SSB) has been documented in a wide range of animals, but its evolutionary causes are not well understood. Here, we investigated SSB in the light of Reeve's acceptance threshold theory. When recognition is not error-proof, the acceptance threshold used by males to recognize potential mating partners should be flexibly adjusted to maximize the fitness pay-off between the costs of erroneously accepting males and the benefits of accepting females. By manipulating male burying beetles' search time for females and their reproductive potential, we influenced their perceived costs of making an acceptance or rejection error. As predicted, when the costs of rejecting females increased, males exhibited more permissive discrimination decisions and showed high levels of SSB; when the costs of accepting males increased, males were more restrictive and showed low levels of SSB. Our results support the idea that in animal species, in which the recognition cues of females and males overlap to a certain degree, SSB is a consequence of an adaptive discrimination strategy to avoid the costs of making rejection errors.

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Reproductive Trade-Offs and Direct Costs for Males in Arthropods

Cited by 110 publications

References 150 publications

Reproductive costs in terrestrial male vertebrates: insights from bird studies

Reproductive costs in terrestrial male vertebrates: insights from bird studies

From storage to delivery: sperm volume and number of spermatozoa inside storage organs and ejaculates in males ofTimogenes elegans(Scorpiones: Bothriuridae)

Acceptance threshold theory can explain occurrence of homosexual behaviour

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