Strategic male courtship effort varies in concert with adaptive shifts in female mating preferences

Kahn, Andrew T.; Dolstra, Tegan; Jennions, Michael D.; Backwell, Patricia R. Y.

doi:10.1093/beheco/art017

Cited by 35 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…If Reaney and Backwell (2007), Milner et al (2010) and Kahn et al (2013) are correct and females (at high elevation) change their preferences from large to small males in order to control the temperature at which their embryos develop and hence the time at which the larvae are ready for release, then it is possible that females living lower in the inter-tidal do not need to make this adjustment. The high tide covers the lower part of the population on more nights of the semi-lunar tidal cycle, giving females a wider window of opportunity for larval release.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Larger males have larger burrows that have lower temperatures, so by selecting larger males at the start of the mating period, females will slow down the development of their larvae. By selecting smaller males at the end of the mating period, females will incubate in a smaller, warmer burrow and, therefore, speed up the egg development rate (Reaney and Backwell 2007;Kahn et al 2013). Why do females alter the development rate of their eggs?…”

Section: Communicated By T Breithauptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The banana fiddler crabs that were studied by Reaney and Backwell (2007) and Kahn et al (2013) lived in the high intertidal, at 6.6 m above the low water mark, where much of the work on this species has been conducted. The population, however, covers a much wider range of the inter-tidal (from 5.5 to 7 m above the mean low water mark).…”

Section: Communicated By T Breithauptmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, we examine a species that has been shown to have temporally varying female mating preferences (Reaney and Backwell 2007;Milner et al 2010;Kahn et al 2013), and we show that it has, in addition, spatially varying selection within a single population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temporal and spatial variation in female mating preferences in a fiddler crab

Clark

Backwell

2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Female mating preferences can vary temporally, with females choosing different males at different times; and spatially, with females in different populations preferring different males. This level of complexity is now well established, but we know of no evidence for a mosaic of female preferences within a single population. Here we show that, in the banana fiddler crab, Uca mjoebergi, female preferences vary both temporally and spatially. Females living in the high intertidal zone changed their mating preference for male size over the duration of the 9-day mating period every semi-lunar cycle: early mating females selected larger males with cooler burrows, slowing embryonic development; those mating later, selected smaller males with warmer burrows, accelerating development. Females living lower in the inter-tidal zone, however, did not show this temporal variation: they select the same sized males throughout the mating period. It is only in the high inter-tidal zone, at the start of the fortnightly mating period, that large size confers a mating advantage to males.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Communicated By T Breithauptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Communicated By T Breithauptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temporal and spatial variation in female mating preferences in a fiddler crab

Clark

Backwell

2015

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…These results suggest that females may adjust their preferences depending upon the pool of males available or that female readiness to mate is so heightened in later cohorts as winter nears that mate preferences diminish [69]. Similarly, in a fiddler crab, females change their preferences for males over time, potentially due to their offspring’s developmental temperature requirements [70,71]. Yet, in general, female mate sampling may decrease temporally because it reduces the energetic costs of finding a mate during a period of time when males are scarce [72].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Effects on the Population, Morphology and Reproductive Behavior of Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae)

Cirino

Miller

2017

Insects

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Many insects are influenced by the phenology of their host plants. In North Central Florida, Narnia femorata (Hemiptera: Coreidae) spends its entire life cycle living and feeding on Opuntia mesacantha ssp. lata. This cactus begins producing flower buds in April that lead to unripe green fruit in June that ripen into red fruit through December. Many morphological and behavioral characteristics of N. femorata are known to be affected by cactus phenology in a controlled laboratory setting, including the degree of sexual dimorphism and mating behavior. Our goal with this study was to determine if similar phenotypic changes of N. femorata occurred over time in the wild, and the extent to which these changes were concordant with phenological changes in its host plant. Further, we investigate the length of the insect mouthparts (beak) over time. Ongoing work has suggested that beak length may change across cohorts of developing insects in response to feeding deep within cactus fruit where seed and pulp depth decrease as the fruit ripens. Our results revealed a drop in cactus fruit abundance between the months of July through October 2015 as cactus fruits turned red and ripened. Simultaneously, the average body size of both males and females of N. femorata declined at two sampled sites. Male hind femora (a sexually-selected weapon) decreased disproportionately in size over time so that males later in the year had relatively smaller hind femora for their body size. The sex-specific patterns of morphological change led to increased sexual-size dimorphism and decreased sexual dimorphism for hind femora later in the year. Further, we found that beak length decreased across cohorts of insects as cactus fruit ripened, suggesting phenotypic plasticity in mouthpart length. Behavioral studies revealed that female readiness to mate increased as the season progressed. In sum, we found pronounced changes in the phenotypes of these insects in the field. Although this study is far from comprehensive, it provides tantalizing patterns that suggest many directions for future research.

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