Plastic male mating behavior evolves in response to the competitive environment

Dore, Alice A., Rostant, Wayne G. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3798-6251, Bretman, Amanda and Chapman, Tracey (2021) Plastic male mating behavior evolves in response to the competitive environment. Evolution, 75 (1). pp. 101-115. ISSN 0014-3820

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Abstract

Male reproductive phenotypes can evolve in response to the social and sexual environment. The expression of many such phenotypes may also be plastic within an individual's lifetime. For example, male Drosophila melanogaster show significantly extended mating duration following a period of exposure to conspecific male rivals. The costs and benefits of reproductive investment, and plasticity itself, can be shaped by the prevailing sociosexual environment and by resource availability. We investigated these ideas using experimental evolution lines of D. melanogaster evolving under three fixed sex ratios (high, medium, and low male-male competition) on either rich or poor adult diets. We found that males evolving in high-competition environments evolved longer mating durations overall. In addition, these males expressed a novel type of plastic behavioral response following exposure to rival males: they both significantly reduced and showed altered courtship delivery, and exhibited significantly longer mating latencies. Plasticity in male mating duration in response to rivals was maintained in all of the lines, suggesting that the costs of plasticity were minimal. None of the evolutionary responses tested were consistently affected by dietary resource regimes. Collectively, the results show that fixed behavioral changes and new augmentations to the repertoire of reproductive behaviors can evolve rapidly.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Uncontrolled Keywords:	courtship,experimental evolution,mating duration,sex ratio,sexual selection,ecology, evolution, behavior and systematics,genetics,agricultural and biological sciences(all) ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1100/1105
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Organisms and the Environment
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	03 Sep 2020 23:57
Last Modified:	08 Mar 2024 04:31
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/76764
DOI:	10.1111/evo.14089

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