THE EVOLUTION OF REPEATED MATING IN THE BURYING BEETLE,<i>NICROPHORUS VESPILLOIDES</i>

House, Clarissa M.; Evans, Gethin M. V.; Smiseth, Per T.; Stamper, Clare E.; Walling, Craig A.; Moore, Allen J.

doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00422.x

Cited by 50 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…In apparent support of this criticism, a range of studies have failed to find a positive genetic correlation between male and female mating speed or mating frequency in chicken (20), Drosophila (21), stalk-eyed flies (22), and bean beetles (23). Only one study on mating frequency in burying beetles (24) has found a strong between-sex genetic correlation, although mating frequency was measured here with the same partner rather than with different partners.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Female extrapair mating behavior can evolve via indirect selection on males

Forstmeier

Martin

Bolund

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

186

194

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In many species that form socially monogamous pair bonds, a considerable proportion of the offspring is sired by extrapair males. This observation has remained a puzzle for evolutionary biologists: although mating outside the pair bond can obviously increase the offspring production of males, the benefits of such behavior to females are less clear, yet females are known to actively solicit extrapair copulations. For more than two decades adaptionist explanations have dominated the discussions, yet remain controversial, and genetic constraint arguments have been dismissed without much consideration. An intriguing but still untested hypothesis states that extrapair mating behavior by females may be affected by the same genetic variants (alleles) as extrapair mating behavior by males, such that the female behavior could evolve through indirect selection on the male behavior. Here we show that in the socially monogamous zebra finch, individual differences in extrapair mating behavior have a hereditary component. Intriguingly, this genetic basis is shared between the sexes, as shown by a strong genetic correlation between male and female measurements of extrapair mating behavior. Hence, positive selection on males to sire extrapair young will lead to increased extrapair mating by females as a correlated evolutionary response. This behavior leads to a fundamentally different view of female extrapair mating: it may exist even if females obtain no net benefit from it, simply because the corresponding alleles were positively selected in the male ancestors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Female extrapair mating behavior can evolve via indirect selection on males

Forstmeier

Martin

Bolund

et al. 2011

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

186

194

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“…We did not manipulate copulation number independently of mate number; however, we know that repeated mating (i.e. several matings with the same male) does not improve any measure of offspring fitness [32]. Thus, because of our previous studies, we were confident that any effect of polyandry would not be confounded with numbers of matings.…”

Section: (A) Experimental Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our previous work shows that for the single male treatment, it is necessary for females to mate more than once to obtain full fertility [32]. Thus, these females were enclosed with their mate for 50 min, during which time a pair copulates three times or more.…”

Section: (A) Experimental Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…(c) Mating procedure A virgin female was mated to a single male or polyandrously to two, three, four or five virgin males in mating chambers (11 Â 11 Â 3 cm) (see House et al [32] for details of the mating behaviour). Our previous work shows that for the single male treatment, it is necessary for females to mate more than once to obtain full fertility [32].…”

Section: (A) Experimental Animalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This pattern reflects males transferring insufficient sperm during a single mating. Furthermore, repeated mating with the same male confers no known indirect benefits to offspring [32]. Currently, the potential for indirect benefits of polyandry for females are unknown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The influence of maternal effects on indirect benefits associated with polyandry

et al. 2010

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Despite numerous and diverse theoretical models for the indirect benefits of polyandry, empirical support is mixed. One reason for the difficulty in detecting indirect benefits of polyandry may be that these are subtle and are mediated by environmental effects, such as maternal effects. Maternal effects may be especially important if females allocate resources to their offspring depending on the characteristics of their mating partners. We test this hypothesis in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides, a species that provides extensive and direct parental care to offspring. We used a fully factorial design and mated females to one, two, three, four or five different males and manipulated conditions so that their offspring received reduced (12 h) or full (ca 72 h) maternal care. We found that average offspring fitness increased with full maternal care but there was no significant effect of polyandry or the interaction between the duration of maternal care and the level of polyandry on offspring fitness. Thus, although polyandry could provide a mechanism for biasing paternity towards high quality or compatible males, and variation in parental care matters, we found no evidence that female N. vespilloides gain indirect benefits by using parental care to bias the allocation of resources under different mating conditions.

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Brood size, food availability, and body size affects male care decisions and offspring performance

Sahm,

Conrad,

Scheu

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Wong et al., 2013). Parental care can occur before or after the birth of offspring and includes various behaviors, such as the protection of offspring from predators, the maintenance of a favorable microenvironment and offspring provisioning (Balshine, 2012;Smiseth et al., 2012;Trumbo, 2012) amongst others. Across the animal kingdom, female care is much more widespread than male care (Clutton-Brock, 1991) and even in biparental families, males frequently invest less than females and desert the brood earlier or with a higher probability. The reason for this asymmetry is thought to lie in sex differences in the strength of sexual selection, in the association with the embryo, and in the certainty of parentage (Liker

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THE EVOLUTION OF REPEATED MATING IN THE BURYING BEETLE,NICROPHORUS VESPILLOIDES

Cited by 50 publications

References 72 publications

Female extrapair mating behavior can evolve via indirect selection on males

Female extrapair mating behavior can evolve via indirect selection on males

The influence of maternal effects on indirect benefits associated with polyandry

Brood size, food availability, and body size affects male care decisions and offspring performance

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