Abstract
We address the adaptive significance of female remating in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, a model system with an extreme mating system of little-to-no premating discrimination and rapid remating. In light of their specific ecology: the occupation of dried grain stores with no use of liquid water, we tested predictions of 4 nonmutually exclusive hypotheses addressing direct benefits that females may receive from mating: 1) topping off of sperm, 2) oviposition-stimulating seminal plasma, 3) ejaculate-derived nutrition, or 4) hydration by the ejaculate. By examining the female fitness consequences of exposure to differing humidity and nutrition environments and exposure to males manipulated to deliver different ejaculate products during mating, we found strong support only for the ejaculate hydration hypothesis. We also investigated the effects of promiscuity on males and found evidence that providing moisture in the ejaculate is costly. This is in contrast to the frequently found pattern of sexual antagonism in which males benefit from an elevated mating rate at a cost to female fitness. We found no evidence that short-term exposure to different humidity conditions influences either female remating behavior or male competitive fertilization success. We consider the role of T. castaneum's ecology and mechanisms of postcopulatory sexual selection on the evolution of its mating system.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 575-583 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Behavioral Ecology |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2016 |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- Direct effects
- Ejaculate hydration
- Environmental stress
- Nuptial gift
- Sexual conflict
- Sexual selection
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
- Animal Science and Zoology
Cite this
Extreme ecology and mating system : Discriminating among direct benefits models in red flour beetles. / Droge-Young, Elizabeth M.; Belote, John M.; Eeswara, Anjalika; Pitnick, Scott S.
In: Behavioral Ecology, Vol. 27, No. 2, 2016, p. 575-583.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Extreme ecology and mating system
T2 - Discriminating among direct benefits models in red flour beetles
AU - Droge-Young, Elizabeth M.
AU - Belote, John M.
AU - Eeswara, Anjalika
AU - Pitnick, Scott S
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - We address the adaptive significance of female remating in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, a model system with an extreme mating system of little-to-no premating discrimination and rapid remating. In light of their specific ecology: the occupation of dried grain stores with no use of liquid water, we tested predictions of 4 nonmutually exclusive hypotheses addressing direct benefits that females may receive from mating: 1) topping off of sperm, 2) oviposition-stimulating seminal plasma, 3) ejaculate-derived nutrition, or 4) hydration by the ejaculate. By examining the female fitness consequences of exposure to differing humidity and nutrition environments and exposure to males manipulated to deliver different ejaculate products during mating, we found strong support only for the ejaculate hydration hypothesis. We also investigated the effects of promiscuity on males and found evidence that providing moisture in the ejaculate is costly. This is in contrast to the frequently found pattern of sexual antagonism in which males benefit from an elevated mating rate at a cost to female fitness. We found no evidence that short-term exposure to different humidity conditions influences either female remating behavior or male competitive fertilization success. We consider the role of T. castaneum's ecology and mechanisms of postcopulatory sexual selection on the evolution of its mating system.
AB - We address the adaptive significance of female remating in the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum, a model system with an extreme mating system of little-to-no premating discrimination and rapid remating. In light of their specific ecology: the occupation of dried grain stores with no use of liquid water, we tested predictions of 4 nonmutually exclusive hypotheses addressing direct benefits that females may receive from mating: 1) topping off of sperm, 2) oviposition-stimulating seminal plasma, 3) ejaculate-derived nutrition, or 4) hydration by the ejaculate. By examining the female fitness consequences of exposure to differing humidity and nutrition environments and exposure to males manipulated to deliver different ejaculate products during mating, we found strong support only for the ejaculate hydration hypothesis. We also investigated the effects of promiscuity on males and found evidence that providing moisture in the ejaculate is costly. This is in contrast to the frequently found pattern of sexual antagonism in which males benefit from an elevated mating rate at a cost to female fitness. We found no evidence that short-term exposure to different humidity conditions influences either female remating behavior or male competitive fertilization success. We consider the role of T. castaneum's ecology and mechanisms of postcopulatory sexual selection on the evolution of its mating system.
KW - Direct effects
KW - Ejaculate hydration
KW - Environmental stress
KW - Nuptial gift
KW - Sexual conflict
KW - Sexual selection
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84983788926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84983788926&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/beheco/arv191
DO - 10.1093/beheco/arv191
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84983788926
VL - 27
SP - 575
EP - 583
JO - Behavioral Ecology
JF - Behavioral Ecology
SN - 1045-2249
IS - 2
ER -