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Smithson CH, Duncan EJ, Sait SM, Bretman A. Sensory perception of rivals has trait-dependent effects on plasticity in Drosophila melanogaster. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arae031. [PMID: 38680228 PMCID: PMC11053361 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arae031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2023] [Revised: 03/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/23/2024] [Indexed: 05/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The social environment has myriad effects on individuals, altering reproduction, immune function, cognition, and aging. Phenotypic plasticity enables animals to respond to heterogeneous environments such as the social environment but requires that they assess those environments accurately. It has been suggested that combinations of sensory cues allow animals to respond rapidly and accurately to changeable environments, but it is unclear whether the same sensory inputs are required in all traits that respond to a particular environmental cue. Drosophila melanogaster males, in the presence of rival males, exhibit a consistent behavioral response by extending mating duration. However, exposure to a rival also results in a reduction in their lifespan, a phenomenon interpreted as a trade-off associated with sperm competition strategies. D. melanogaster perceive their rivals by using multiple sensory cues; interfering with at least two olfactory, auditory, or tactile cues eliminates the extension of mating duration. Here, we assessed whether these same cues were implicated in the lifespan reduction. Removal of combinations of auditory and olfactory cues removed the extended mating duration response to a rival, as previously found. However, we found that these manipulations did not alter the reduction in lifespan of males exposed to rivals or induce any changes in activity patterns, grooming, or male-male aggression. Therefore, our analysis suggests that lifespan reduction is not a cost associated with the behavioral responses to sperm competition. Moreover, this highlights the trait-specific nature of the mechanisms underlying plasticity in response to the same environmental conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claire H Smithson
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Clarendon Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth J Duncan
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Clarendon Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - Steven M Sait
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Clarendon Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - Amanda Bretman
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Clarendon Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
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Liu J, He XZ, Zheng X, Zhang Y, Wang Q. Juvenile socio-sexual experience determines lifetime sperm expenditure and adult survival in a polygamous moth, Ephestia kuehniella. INSECT SCIENCE 2023; 30:232-240. [PMID: 35656827 PMCID: PMC10084429 DOI: 10.1111/1744-7917.13088] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 05/21/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Male animals often adjust their sperm investment in response to sperm competition environment. To date, only a few studies have investigated how juvenile sociosexual settings affect sperm production before adulthood and sperm allocation during the first mating. Yet, it is unclear whether juvenile sociosexual experience (1) determines lifetime sperm production and allocation in any animal species; (2) alters the eupyrene : apyrene sperm ratio in lifetime ejaculates of any lepidopteran insects, and (3) influences lifetime ejaculation patterns, number of matings and adult longevity. Here we used a polygamous moth, Ephestia kuehniella, to address these questions. Upon male adult emergence from juveniles reared at different density and sex ratio, we paired each male with a virgin female daily until his death. We dissected each mated female to count the sperm transferred and recorded male longevity and lifetime number of matings. We demonstrate for the first time that males ejaculated significantly more eupyrenes and apyrenes in their lifetime after their young were exposed to juvenile rivals. Adult moths continued to produce eupyrene sperm, contradicting the previous predictions for lepidopterans. The eupyrene : apyrene ratio in the lifetime ejaculates remained unchanged in all treatments, suggesting that the sperm ratio is critical for reproductive success. Male juvenile exposure to other juveniles regardless of sex ratio caused significantly shorter adult longevity and faster decline in sperm ejaculation over successive matings. However, males from all treatments achieved similar number of matings in their lifetime. This study provides insight into adaptive resource allocation by males in response to juvenile sociosexual environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junyan Liu
- School of Agriculture and EnvironmentMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Xiong Z. He
- School of Agriculture and EnvironmentMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
| | - Xia‐Lin Zheng
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agric‐Environment and Agric‐Products SafetyNational Demonstration Center for Experimental Plant Science Education, College of Agriculture, Guangxi UniversityNanningChina
| | - Yujing Zhang
- Guangxi Key Laboratory of Agric‐Environment and Agric‐Products SafetyNational Demonstration Center for Experimental Plant Science Education, College of Agriculture, Guangxi UniversityNanningChina
| | - Qiao Wang
- School of Agriculture and EnvironmentMassey UniversityPalmerston NorthNew Zealand
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Playing to the crowd: Using Drosophila to dissect mechanisms underlying plastic male strategies in sperm competition games. ADVANCES IN THE STUDY OF BEHAVIOR 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/bs.asb.2022.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
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Churchill ER, Bridle JR, Thom MD. Spatially clustered resources increase male aggregation and mating duration in Drosophila melanogaster. Anim Behav 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
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Spagopoulou F, Vega-Trejo R, Head ML, Jennions MD. Shifts in Reproductive Investment in Response to Competitors Lower Male Reproductive Success. Am Nat 2020; 196:355-368. [PMID: 32813996 DOI: 10.1086/709821] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
AbstractIn many species, males exhibit phenotypic plasticity in sexually selected traits when exposed to social cues about the intensity of sexual competition. To date, however, few studies have tested how this plasticity affects male reproductive success. We initially tested whether male mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki (Poeciliidae), change their investment in traits under pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection depending on the social environment. For a full spermatogenesis cycle, focal males were exposed to visual and chemical cues of rivals that were either present (competitive treatment) or absent (control). Males from the competitive treatment had significantly slower-swimming sperm but did not differ in sperm count from control males. When two males competed for a female, competitive treatment males also made significantly fewer copulation attempts and courtship displays than control males. Further, paternity analysis of 708 offspring from 148 potential sires, testing whether these changes in reproductive traits affected male reproductive success, showed that males previously exposed to cues about the presence of rivals sired significantly fewer offspring when competing with a control male. We discuss several possible explanations for these unusual findings.
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Magris M, Chimetto G, Rizzi S, Pilastro A. Quick-change artists: male guppies pay no cost to repeatedly adjust their sexual strategies. Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Martina Magris
- Department of Biology, University of Padova via U. Bassi, Padua, Italy
| | - Gianluca Chimetto
- Department of Biology, University of Padova via U. Bassi, Padua, Italy
| | - Sofia Rizzi
- Department of Biology, University of Padova via U. Bassi, Padua, Italy
| | - Andrea Pilastro
- Department of Biology, University of Padova via U. Bassi, Padua, Italy
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7
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Esfandi K, He XZ, Wang Q. Flirtation reduces males' fecundity but not longevity. Evolution 2015; 69:2118-28. [PMID: 26133013 DOI: 10.1111/evo.12715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2015] [Accepted: 06/19/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Theory predicts that due to limited resources males should strategically adjust their investment in reproduction and survival. Based on different conceptual framework, experimental designs, and study species, many studies support while others contradict this general prediction. Using a moth Ephestia kuehniella whose adults do not feed and thus have fixed resources for their lifetime fitness, we investigated whether males adjusted their investment in various life activities under dynamic socio-sexual environment. We allowed focal males to perceive rivals or additional females without physical contact. We show that males do not adjust the number of sperm they transfer to mates in a given copulation at different immediate or both immediate and mean sperm competition levels. Contradictory to general predictions, our results demonstrate that cues from additional females increase males' investment in courtship and reduce their lifetime number of copulations and sperm ejaculated, whereas cues from rivals have no effect on these parameters. Males have similar longevity in all treatments. We suggest that the sex pheromone produced by multiple females overstimulate males, increasing males' costly flirtations, and reducing their lifetime copulation frequency and fecundity. This finding offers a novel explanation for the success of mating disruption strategy using sex pheromones in pest management.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kambiz Esfandi
- Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, Private Bag 11222, New Zealand
| | - Xiong Zhao He
- Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, Private Bag 11222, New Zealand
| | - Qiao Wang
- Institute of Agriculture and Environment, Massey University, Palmerston North, Private Bag 11222, New Zealand.
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Moatt JP, Dytham C, Thom MDF. Sperm production responds to perceived sperm competition risk in male Drosophila melanogaster. Physiol Behav 2014; 131:111-4. [PMID: 24769021 DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.04.027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2013] [Revised: 04/07/2014] [Accepted: 04/14/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Postcopulatory sexual selection arising from female multiple mating leads to the evolution of ejaculates that maximize a male's reproductive success under sperm competition. Where the risk of sperm competition is variable, optimal fitness may be achieved by plastically altering ejaculate characteristics in response to the prevailing sperm competition environment. In the model species Drosophila melanogaster, males expecting to encounter sperm competition mate for longer and transfer more accessory proteins and sperm. Here we show that after being housed with a single rival for one week, the seminal vesicles of male D. melanogaster contain a significantly greater proportion of live sperm than those of males maintained alone, indicating adaptive adjustment of sperm quality in response to the perceived risk of sperm competition. This effect is due to an increase in the number of live sperm produced, indicating that males upregulate sperm production in response to the presence of rivals. Our data suggest that males show plasticity in the rate of spermatogenesis that is adaptive in the context of a fluctuating sperm competition environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua P Moatt
- Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
| | - Calvin Dytham
- Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
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Zizzari ZV, van Straalen NM, Ellers J. Male-male competition leads to less abundant but more attractive sperm. Biol Lett 2013; 9:20130762. [PMID: 24307528 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.0762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Males employ complex strategies to optimize their reproductive success when faced with male-male competition; for instance, they can adjust the ejaculate characteristics. In copulating species, a male may also strategically adjust his ejaculate expenditure according to female quality. Quantifying the relative contribution of ejaculate plasticity in male reproductive success is often difficult, especially when females exert postcopulatory cryptic choice. One way to quantify the functional significance of ejaculate plasticity is offered by mating systems in which the reproductive partners do not meet each other during insemination. In the collembolan Orchesella cincta, males deposit their ejaculates (spermatophores) irrespective of the presence of females. We tested whether Orchesella males adjust spermatophore number when exposed to the presence of another male and whether changes in spermatophore production influence female choice. We found that Orchesella males display plasticity in spermatophore allocation. Males decreased the spermatophore number when exposed to a rival male. Moreover, females preferentially took up spermatophores of males that were exposed to a competitor. The reduction in spermatophore number suggests, besides an adaptive response to the risk of ejaculate removal by rival males, an optimization strategy owing to the costs of more attractive spermatophores.
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Affiliation(s)
- Z Valentina Zizzari
- Department of Ecological Science, Animal Ecology, VU University Amsterdam, , De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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