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Zang C, Chung MHJ, Neeman T, Harrison L, Vinogradov IM, Jennions MD. Does losing reduce the tendency to engage with rivals to reach mates? An experimental test. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arae037. [PMID: 38779595 PMCID: PMC11107846 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arae037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2023] [Revised: 04/16/2024] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Male-male contests for access to females or breeding resources are critical in determining male reproductive success. Larger males and those with more effective weaponry are more likely to win fights. However, even after controlling for such predictors of fighting ability, studies have reported a winner-loser effect: previous winners are more likely to win subsequent contests, while losers often suffer repeated defeats. While the effect of winning-losing is well-documented for the outcome of future fights, its effect on other behaviors (e.g. mating) remains poorly investigated. Here, we test whether a winning versus losing experience influenced subsequent behaviors of male mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) toward rivals and potential mates. We housed focal males with either a smaller or larger opponent for 24 h to manipulate their fighting experience to become winners or losers, respectively. The focal males then underwent tests that required them to enter and swim through a narrow corridor to reach females, bypassing a cylinder that contained either a larger rival male (competitive scenario), a juvenile or was empty (non-competitive scenarios). The tests were repeated after 1 wk. Winners were more likely to leave the start area and to reach the females, but only when a larger rival was presented, indicating higher levels of risk-taking behavior in aggressive interactions. This winner-loser effect persisted for at least 1 wk. We suggest that male mosquitofish adjust their assessment of their own and/or their rival's fighting ability following contests in ways whose detection by researchers depends on the social context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chenke Zang
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia
| | - Meng-Han Joseph Chung
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia
| | - Teresa Neeman
- Biological Data Science Institute, Australian National University, Canberra Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia
| | - Lauren Harrison
- School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom
| | - Ivan M Vinogradov
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia
| | - Michael D Jennions
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, 2601, Australia
- Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Centre at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
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2
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Prunier A, Trannoy S. Learning from fights: Males' social dominance status impact reproductive success in Drosophila melanogaster. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0299839. [PMID: 38452142 PMCID: PMC10919672 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2023] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 03/09/2024] Open
Abstract
In animals, the access to vital resources often relies on individuals' behavioural personality, strength, motivation, past experiences and dominance status. Dominant individuals would be more territorial, providing them with a better access to food resources and mate. The so-called winner and loser effects induce individuals' behavioural changes after experiencing a victory or a defeat, and lead to an individual persistent state influencing the outcome of subsequent fights. However, whether and how development of winner and loser effects affect individuals' fitness is controversial. The aim of this study is to evaluate how individuals' fitness can be influenced by previous fighting experience in Drosophila melanogaster. In this study, we assess various behavioural performances as indicators for dominant and subordinate fitness. Our results show that subordinates are less territorial than dominants although their locomotor abilities are not affected. We also demonstrate that in a non-competitive context, experiencing a defeat reduces males' motivation to court females but not the reproductive success while in a competitive context, it negatively affects males' reproductive success. However, we found no impact upon either males' ability to distinguish potential mates nor on females' choice of a specific mating partner. Overall, these results indicate that previous defeats reduce reproductive success, a commonly used estimate of individual fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antoine Prunier
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology, Toulouse University, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
| | - Severine Trannoy
- Research Center on Animal Cognition (CRCA), Center for Integrative Biology, Toulouse University, CNRS, UPS, Toulouse, France
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3
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Chung MHJ, Head ML, Fox RJ, Jennions MD. Effects of past mating behavior versus past ejaculation on male mate choice and male attractiveness. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arae002. [PMID: 38273897 PMCID: PMC10807976 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arae002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2023] [Revised: 12/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/05/2024] [Indexed: 01/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Past reproductive effort allows males to assess their ability to acquire mates, but it also consumes resources that can reduce their future competitive ability. Few studies have examined how a male's reproductive history affects his subsequent mate choice, and, to date, no study has determined the relative contribution of past mating behavior and past ejaculate production because these two forms of investment are naturally highly correlated. Here, we disentangled the relative effects of past mating behavior and past ejaculate production in mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) by experimentally preventing some males from ejaculating when trying to mate. We assessed the effect of mating behavior on mate choice by comparing males that had previously been with or without access to females and male rivals for 8 and 16 weeks and assessed the effect of ejaculation on mate choice by comparing males that either could or could not ejaculate when they had access to females for 16 weeks. Reproductive treatment did not affect male attractiveness, but it did affect male mate choice. Somewhat surprisingly, in five of the six treatment-by-age at testing combinations, males preferred a female in the vicinity of a male rival over a solitary female. This preference was marginally stronger for males that had previously engaged in mating behavior but were unaffected by past ejaculate production. We discuss the potential benefits to males of associating with another male when seeking mates. This is the first study to quantify the relative influence of pre- and post-copulatory reproductive investment on male mate choice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meng-Han Joseph Chung
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, 46 Sullivans Creek Road, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia
| | - Megan L Head
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, 46 Sullivans Creek Road, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia
| | - Rebecca J Fox
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, 46 Sullivans Creek Road, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia
| | - Michael D Jennions
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, Australian National University, 46 Sullivans Creek Road, Acton, Australian Capital Territory 2600, Australia
- Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), Wallenberg Centre, 10 Marais Street, Stellenbosch 7600, South Africa
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4
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Toyoshima N, Matsuo T. Fight outcome influences male mating success in Drosophila prolongata. J ETHOL 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10164-023-00778-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/11/2023]
Abstract
AbstractThe outcomes of preceding fights can influence the probability of winning a subsequent fight, known as the winner/loser effect. However, we know relatively little about how the experience of a preceding fight influences subsequent mating success. Here, we investigated the influence of preceding fight outcomes on subsequent mating behavior in a fruit fly Drosophila prolongata. Subordinate males mated less in two-choice mating assays, showing that the fight outcome predicts male mating success in this species. This tendency remained in a no-choice mating assay where direct interaction between the dominant and subordinate males was eliminated, suggesting that the mating disadvantage of the subordinate males was dependent on the experience of the previous fight rather than the direct interference by the dominant male. When a no-choice mating assay was performed before the fight, the prospective subordinate males mated at the same rate as the dominant males, confirming that the intrinsic male qualities in fighting and mating performances were independent of each other in our experiments. These results indicated that the experience-dependent changes in the subordinate males led to the reduced mating success.
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5
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Harrison LM, Jennions MD. Revisiting and interpreting the role of female dominance in male mate choice: the importance of replication in ecology and evolution. Evol Ecol 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10682-022-10214-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
AbstractIn many species females prefer to mate with socially dominant males, often because it elevates their fecundity by providing greater access to material resources or lowers offspring mortality due to superior male defence. Far fewer studies have tested whether males prefer socially dominant females. Intriguingly, an earlier study showed that when the sexes freely interact, male mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) preferentially attempt to mate with dominant females. Here we replicate this study using a slightly modified experimental design to test the generality of its finding. In addition, we conducted standard, two-choice male mate choice trials to test directly whether males prefer dominant over subordinate females. Corroborating the previous study, we found that when a male and two females freely interact, males more often attempt to mate with the dominant female. However, males did not prefer to associate with (i.e., choose) dominant females in two-choice trials where females could not interact. We discuss whether greater access to males is a benefit of female social dominance, or an epiphenomenon of other benefits of dominance.
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Uy FMK, Jernigan CM, Zaba NC, Mehrotra E, Miller SE, Sheehan MJ. Dynamic neurogenomic responses to social interactions and dominance outcomes in female paper wasps. PLoS Genet 2021; 17:e1009474. [PMID: 34478434 PMCID: PMC8415593 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1009474] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Social interactions have large effects on individual physiology and fitness. In the immediate sense, social stimuli are often highly salient and engaging. Over longer time scales, competitive interactions often lead to distinct social ranks and differences in physiology and behavior. Understanding how initial responses lead to longer-term effects of social interactions requires examining the changes in responses over time. Here we examined the effects of social interactions on transcriptomic signatures at two times, at the end of a 45-minute interaction and 4 hours later, in female Polistes fuscatus paper wasp foundresses. Female P. fuscatus have variable facial patterns that are used for visual individual recognition, so we separately examined the transcriptional dynamics in the optic lobe and the non-visual brain. Results demonstrate much stronger transcriptional responses to social interactions in the non-visual brain compared to the optic lobe. Differentially regulated genes in response to social interactions are enriched for memory-related transcripts. Comparisons between winners and losers of the encounters revealed similar overall transcriptional profiles at the end of an interaction, which significantly diverged over the course of 4 hours, with losers showing changes in expression levels of genes associated with aggression and reproduction in paper wasps. On nests, subordinate foundresses are less aggressive, do more foraging and lay fewer eggs compared to dominant foundresses and we find losers shift expression of many genes in the non-visual brain, including vitellogenin, related to aggression, worker behavior, and reproduction within hours of losing an encounter. These results highlight the early neurogenomic changes that likely contribute to behavioral and physiological effects of social status changes in a social insect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Floria M. K. Uy
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Christopher M. Jernigan
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Natalie C. Zaba
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Eshan Mehrotra
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Sara E. Miller
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
| | - Michael J. Sheehan
- Laboratory for Animal Social Evolution and Recognition, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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7
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Kwek BZW, Tan M, Yu L, Zhou W, Chang CC, Li D. Aggressive males are more attractive to females and more likely to win contests in jumping spiders. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.06.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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8
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Kola M, Alexander T, Servidio T, Mathews L. Winner and loser effects influence subsequent mating interactions in crayfish. Behav Processes 2021; 192:104489. [PMID: 34437979 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2021] [Revised: 08/08/2021] [Accepted: 08/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
In species whose social structure includes dominance relationships, individuals are likely to engage in frequent agonistic interactions with conspecifics, and these interactions can have substantial effects on participants. For example, 'winner' and 'loser' effects, whereby winning or losing a contest increases the probability of winning or losing subsequent encounters, have been described in many species. However, a smaller body of research has shown that winning or losing a contest can lead to additional behavioral changes that affect other domains of an individual's social experiences. Here, we report on an experiment designed to evaluate the effects of prior contests on subsequent mating interactions in the crayfish (Faxonius virilis). We presented males with mating opportunities either immediately following or 7 days after a contest with a conspecific male. We predicted that winners would be more likely to mate than losers, because of either or both winner/loser effects and differences in male competitiveness. We found that, when presented with a mating opportunity immediately following a contest, winning males were more likely to mate than were losing males. We also found that these differences had eroded within 7 days, such that there was no significant difference in the proportions of winners and losers that mated after that period. We concluded that the changes in mating behavior that we observed immediately after a contest were likely due to relatively short-term winner and loser effects, rather than any differences in the males' competitiveness, which would presumably be of longer duration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Kola
- Department of Biology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States
| | - Tyra Alexander
- Department of Biology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States
| | - Thomas Servidio
- Department of Biology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States
| | - Lauren Mathews
- Department of Biology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States.
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9
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Mathews L. Outcomes of agonistic interactions alter sheltering behavior in crayfish. Behav Processes 2021; 184:104337. [PMID: 33515634 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2020] [Revised: 01/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
'Winner' and 'loser' effects have been demonstrated in a broad range of species, but such investigations are often limited to the effects of prior contest outcomes on future agonistic interactions. Much less is known about the impacts of winning or losing contests on other aspects of individual behavior, like courtship interactions and sheltering behavior. In this investigation, I examined the effect of prior contest outcomes on sheltering behavior in the crayfish Faxonius virilis. I predicted that winners of contests would spend less time inside shelters and more time exploring, while losers of contests would spend more time inside shelters and less time exploring. I compared individual sheltering behavior before and after staged dyadic encounters between competitively mismatched individuals. This experiment revealed strong effects on the behavior of contest losers, which showed significant increases in the amount of time spent inside the shelter immediately after the contest. However, there was no significant change in the sheltering behavior of contest winners. These results reinforce the idea that contest outcomes can affect individual behaviors other than agonistic behavior, and suggest that losing a contest may motivate individual crayfish to engage in less-risky behavior, at least for a brief period after the contest.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lauren Mathews
- Department of Biology, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, United States.
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10
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Castillo Y, Arce E. Female preference for dominant males in the Mexican mojarra cichlid fish, Cichlasoma istlanum. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2021; 98:189-195. [PMID: 32997364 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.14569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2020] [Revised: 09/20/2020] [Accepted: 09/28/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
It is widely assumed that female preference and male competition operate simultaneously during sexual selection. Dominance is likely an honest indicator of male quality, and females can identify and choose the dominant male to reproduce with individuals with greater competitive abilities, thus improving the quality and competitiveness of their offspring. In this context, few studies have investigated female preference in relation to male fighting ability. The Mexican mojarra, Cichlasoma istlanum, is a cichlid species native to the Balsas River basin. It is territorial during reproduction and provides parental care. Males commonly engage in territorial defence, whereas females care directly for offspring. This study examined whether females prefer dominant males that exhibit more aggressive behaviour. The authors conducted experiments using groups of two males and one female to test competitive ability in males and female preference. They also quantified the time during which the female associated with the dominant male and the subordinate male after observing the outcome of a fight between the two males. They found that Mexican mojarra females preferred dominant males and that the time females spent associating with males was positively related with their aggressive behaviours during competition. These results indicate that dominant males were more attractive than subordinate males to female Mexican mojarra. The relationship between female preference and male dominance in the Mexican mojarra demonstrates the importance of male competitive ability for future parental care in reproduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuritzi Castillo
- Maestría en Biología Integrativa de la Biodiversidad y la Conservación, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México
| | - Elsah Arce
- Laboratorio de Acuicultura, Departamento de Hidrobiología, Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos, Cuernavaca, Morelos, México
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11
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Aich U, Bonnet T, Fox RJ, Jennions MD. An experimental test to separate the effects of male age and mating history on female mate choice. Behav Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Should females prefer older males as mates? Male survival to old age might indicate the presence of fitness-enhancing genes that increase offspring fitness. However, many correlational studies show that mating with older males can lower female fecundity and even reduce offspring fitness due to epigenetic or germline mutation effects. One problem in quantifying female choice based on male age is that age is usually confounded with mating history. This begs a question: Do females choose males based on their age or their mating history? The answer requires an experimental approach, but few such studies exist. Here, we test if experimentally induced variation in the mating history of old and young males (12-week difference in postmaturity age) affects female choice in the eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). To vary mating history, adult males were either allowed to freely mate with females for 3 weeks or they only had visual contact with females. Immediately thereafter, we ran four-choice mating trials, using association time, to test the effects of male age and mating history (2 × 2 design) on male attractiveness. Females did not show a clear preference for males based on either characteristic. This was not due to a lack of female choice: females spent significantly more time with larger males. In addition, female choice was significantly repeatable across four trials: twice as a virgin and twice as a nonvirgin. Finally, female mating status (virgin or nonvirgin) did not affect her choice of mate, although virgin females spent significantly more time associating with test males.
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Affiliation(s)
- Upama Aich
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Timothee Bonnet
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Rebecca J Fox
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Michael D Jennions
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Acton, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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12
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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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13
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Filice DCS, Dukas R. Winners have higher pre-copulatory mating success but losers have better post-copulatory outcomes. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 286:20182838. [PMID: 30940060 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2838] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In many animals, the outcomes of competitive interactions can have lasting effects that influence an individual's reproductive success and have important consequences for the strength and direction of evolution via sexual selection. In the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, males that have won previous contests are more likely to win in subsequent conflicts and losers are more likely to lose (winner-loser effects), but the direct fitness consequences and genetic underpinnings of this plasticity are poorly understood. Here, we tested how male genotype and the outcomes of previous male-male conflicts influence male pre- and post-copulatory success. We quantified pre-copulatory success in a choice and no-choice context, and post-copulatory success by quantifying ejaculate offensive and defensive ability. We found that winners have higher reproductive success compared to losers in both pre-copulatory scenarios. However, losers consistently mated for a longer duration, boosted female fecundity and had an increased paternity share when they were the first males to mate, suggesting increased investment into post-copulatory mechanisms. Finally, by using clonal hybrids from the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel, we documented that genetic variation explained a sizeable proportion of the observed differences between lines, and of the interaction between line and winner and loser effects. Our results place the behavioural data on winner-loser effects in an evolutionary context by documenting the potential fitness gain to males from altering their reproductive strategy based on fighting experience. Our data may also explain the presence and maintenance of trade-offs between different male reproductive strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- David C S Filice
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University , 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON , Canada L8S 4K1
| | - Reuven Dukas
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Behaviour, McMaster University , 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON , Canada L8S 4K1
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14
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Chung MHJ, Jennions MD, Fox RJ. Novel ablation technique shows no sperm priming response by male eastern mosquitofish to cues of female availability. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2779-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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15
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Nakajo H, Tsuboi T, Okamoto H. The behavioral paradigm to induce repeated social defeats in zebrafish. Neurosci Res 2019; 161:24-32. [PMID: 31711781 DOI: 10.1016/j.neures.2019.11.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2019] [Revised: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 11/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Social subordination, which causes severe stress in animals, can affect animal's behaviors, homeostasis, and mental health. In rodents, experiences of repeated social defeats, but not a single defeat, induce a depression-like state. However, it is unclear whether such experiences similarly affect behaviors of other model animals than rodents. Here, we established a behavioral paradigm for repeated social defeats with zebrafish, an emerging model for behavioral neuroscience and pharmacological analysis. We put fish into repeated social subordination for 6 consecutive days. Using behaviors during fighting as indicators, we observed that experiencing repeated social defeats led to a reduction in fight frequency and duration. The continuously-defeated zebrafish failed to win even against the transgenic fish with an impaired winning-associated neural pathway. These results suggest that repeated social defeats led to demotivation to fight and to win against opponents. Moreover, they showed strong activity in the ventral habenula, an evolutionary homolog of the mammalian lateral habenula. However, unlike the mice model, the continuously-defeated zebrafish showed no change in anxiety level and sociability. Our established behavioral paradigm will be a new tool to investigate neural mechanisms underlying social defeats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haruna Nakajo
- Laboratory for Neural Circuit Dynamics of Decision Making, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Department of Life Sciences, Graduate school of arts and science, The university of Tokyo, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
| | - Takashi Tsuboi
- Department of Life Sciences, Graduate school of arts and science, The university of Tokyo, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan
| | - Hitoshi Okamoto
- Laboratory for Neural Circuit Dynamics of Decision Making, RIKEN Center for Brain Science, Saitama 351-0198, Japan; Department of Life Sciences, Graduate school of arts and science, The university of Tokyo, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
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