Age-based mate choice in the monandrous fruit fly Drosophila subobscura
TL;DR: It is suggested that age-based preference by females can be consistent across populations with very different environments, even when those populations differ in other key mating-related traits such as offspring production and copulation duration.
About: This article is published in Animal Behaviour.The article was published on 2015-04-01. It has received 24 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Mating system & Mate choice.
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TL;DR: It is suggested that ejaculates of older males are less effective at inducing beneficial responses and that older male flies produce smaller or ill‐composed ejaculates, significantly affecting his reproductive success.
34 citations
University of Liverpool1, Imperial College London2, University of Kansas3, University of East Anglia4, University of Zurich5, University of Melbourne6, University College London7, Stowers Institute for Medical Research8, Université Paris-Saclay9, University of Toronto10, ETH Zurich11, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation12, University of Rochester13, North Carolina State University14, University of Otago15, University of California, Los Angeles16
TL;DR: This review summarizes the current knowledge of drive resistance in both natural and synthetic gene drives and explores how insights from naturally occurring and synthetic drive systems can be integrated to improve the design of gene drives, better predict the outcome of releases and understand genomic conflict in general.
Abstract: Scientists are rapidly developing synthetic gene drive elements intended for release into natural populations. These are intended to control or eradicate disease vectors and pests, or to spread useful traits through wild populations for disease control or conservation purposes. However, a crucial problem for gene drives is the evolution of resistance against them, preventing their spread. Understanding the mechanisms by which populations might evolve resistance is essential for engineering effective gene drive systems. This review summarizes our current knowledge of drive resistance in both natural and synthetic gene drives. We explore how insights from naturally occurring and synthetic drive systems can be integrated to improve the design of gene drives, better predict the outcome of releases and understand genomic conflict in general.
33 citations
Cites background from "Age-based mate choice in the monand..."
...…promote females evolving a preference for males unlikely to have strong drive due to these nongenetic causes (i.e. high temperature reared or older males), but to date, this has not been examined, although age-based mate choice is common in Drosophila and other organisms (Verspoor et al., 2015)....
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TL;DR: There is no single ‘correct’ approach to measuring choice across species, although ecological relevance is crucial if the aim is to understand how choice acts in natural populations, and the need for quantitative estimates of the sizes of potentially important effects is highlighted.
Abstract: The important role that mate choice plays in the lives of animals is matched by the large and active research field dedicated to studying it. Researchers work on a wide range of species and behaviours, and so the experimental approaches used to measure animal mate choice are highly variable. Importantly, these differences are often not purely cosmetic; they can strongly influence the measurement of choice, for example by varying the behaviour of animals during tests, the aspects of choice actually measured, and statistical power. Consideration of these effects are important when comparing results among studies using different types of test, or when using laboratory results to predict animal behaviour in natural populations. However, these effects have been underappreciated by the mate choice literature to date. I focus on five key experimental considerations that may influence choice: (i) should mating be allowed to occur, or should a proxy behavioural measure of preference be used instead? (ii) Should subjects be given a choice of options? (iii) Should each subject be tested more than once, either with the same or different stimuli? (iv) When given a choice, how many options should the subject choose between? (v) What form should the experimental stimuli take? I discuss the practical advantages and disadvantages of common experimental approaches, and how they may influence the measurement of mate choice in systematic ways. Different approaches often influence the ability of animals to perceive and compare stimuli presented during tests, or the perceived costs and benefits of being choosy. Given that variation in the design of mate choice experiments is likely unavoidable, I emphasise that there is no single 'correct' approach to measuring choice across species, although ecological relevance is crucial if the aim is to understand how choice acts in natural populations. I also highlight the need for quantitative estimates of the sizes of potentially important effects, without which we cannot make informed design decisions.
32 citations
TL;DR: Male reproductive senescence is associated with a decline in functionality of the male accessory gland and the composition of an ejaculate might change with male age as the rate of change was variable for those five genes.
Abstract: Senescence is accompanied by loss of reproductive functions. Here, we studied reproductive ageing in Drosophila melanogaster males and asked whether the expected decline in male reproductive success is due to diminished functionality of the male accessory gland (AG). The male AG produces the majority of seminal fluid proteins (SFPs) transferred to the female at mating. SFPs induce female postmating changes and are key to male reproductive success. We measured age-dependent gene expression changes for five representative SFP genes in males from four different age groups ranging from 1 to 6 weeks after eclosion. Simultaneously, we also measured male reproductive success in postmating traits mediated by transfer of these five SFPs. We found a decreased in male SFP gene expression with advancing age and an accompanying decline in male postmating success. Hence, male reproductive senescence is associated with a decline in functionality of the male AG. While overall individual SFP genes decreased in expression, our results point towards the idea that the composition of an ejaculate might change with male age as the rate of change was variable for those five genes.
23 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that the immediate costs of mating differ between males and females, and that the sexes differ in their perception of the opportunity cost sustained by refusing a mating opportunity, and support the idea that ageing has more wide-ranging impact on reproductive behaviours than does nutritional challenge.
Abstract: Successful reproduction requires the completion of many, often condition-dependent, stages, from mate searching and courtship through to sperm transfer, fertilisation and offspring production. Animals can plastically adjust their investment in each stage according to the physical and social environment, their own condition, their future reproductive potential, and the condition of their partner. Here we manipulate age and condition, through a nutritional challenge early or late in life, of both male and female Drosophila melanogaster and measure the effects on courtship, mating, and fitness when paired with a standardized (unmanipulated) partner. Older males were slower to start courting and mating, and courted at a slower rate, but males were indifferent to female age or condition despite older females laying and hatching fewer eggs. Female condition had a substantial effect on mating acceptance rate, which dropped dramatically after starvation, and particularly recent starvation experience. In contrast, male condition had little effect on any of the components of reproductive performance we measured. Intriguingly, we found no evidence for additive or multiplicative effects of ageing and starvation: the only significant interaction between these variables was on male latency to initiate courtship - older males were slower to start courting unless they had experienced starvation early in life. These results indicate that the immediate costs of mating differ between males and females, and that the sexes differ in their perception of the opportunity cost sustained by refusing a mating opportunity. Our results support the idea that ageing has more wide-ranging impact on reproductive behaviours than does nutritional challenge.
21 citations
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TL;DR: Copyright (©) 1999–2012 R Foundation for Statistical Computing; permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Abstract: Copyright (©) 1999–2012 R Foundation for Statistical Computing. Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under the terms of a permission notice identical to this one. Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language, under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be stated in a translation approved by the R Core Team.
272,030 citations
12 Jul 2017
TL;DR: The p,cnetics of sex nas now becn clarif ied, and Fishcr ( 1958 ) hrs produccd , n,od"l to cxplarn sex ratios at coDception, a nrodel recently extendcd to include special mccha_ nisms that operate under inbreeding (Hunrilron I96?).
Abstract: There is a tendency among biologists studying social behavior to regard the adult sex ratio as an independent variable to which the species reacts with appropriate adaptations D Lack often interprets social behavior as an adaptation in part to an unbalanced (or balanced) sex ratio, and J Verner has summarized other instances of this tendency The only mechanism that will generate differential mortality independent of sexual differences clearly related to parental investment and sexual selection is the chromosomal mechanism, applied especially to humans and other mammals: the unguarded X chromosome of the male is presumed to predispose him to higher mortality Each offspring can be viewed as an investment independent of other offspring, increasing investment in one offspring tending to decrease investment in others Species can be classified according to the relative parental investment of the sexes in their young In the vast majority of species, the male's only contribution to the survival of his offspring is his sex cells
10,571 citations
"Age-based mate choice in the monand..." refers background in this paper
...Choosing the right mate can strongly affect a female's fitness (Trivers, 1972)....
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TL;DR: It is demonstrated here that seminal fluid products from the main cells of the male accessory gland are responsible for the cost of mating in females, and that increasing exposure to these products increases female death rate.
Abstract: Female Drosophila melanogaster with environmentally or genetically elevated rates of mating die younger than controls. This cost of mating is not attributable to receipt of sperm. We demonstrate here that seminal fluid products from the main cells of the male accessory gland are responsible for the cost of mating in females, and that increasing exposure to these products increases female death rate. Main-cell products are also involved in elevating the rate of female egg-laying, in reducing female receptivity to further matings and in removing or destroying sperm of previous mates. The cost of mating to females may therefore represent a side-effect of evolutionary conflict between males.
1,292 citations
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an overview of classical Monte Carlo methods in classical statistical physics, including the Monte Carlo method for Particle Transport Problems and the Particle-in-Cell method.
Abstract: Molecular Dynamics.- to Molecular Dynamics.- Wigner Function Quantum Molecular Dynamics.- Classical Monte Carlo.- The Monte Carlo Method, an Introduction.- Monte Carlo Methods in Classical Statistical Physics.- The Monte Carlo Method for Particle Transport Problems.- Kinetic Modelling.- The Particle-in-Cell Method.- Gyrokinetic and Gyrofluid Theory and Simulation of Magnetized Plasmas.- Semiclassical Approaches.- Boltzmann Transport in Condensed Matter.- Semiclassical Description of Quantum Many-Particle Dynamics in Strong Laser Fields.- Quantum Monte Carlo.- World-line and Determinantal Quantum Monte Carlo Methods for Spins, Phonons and Electrons.- Autocorrelations in Quantum Monte Carlo Simulations of Electron-Phonon Models.- Diagrammatic Monte Carlo and Stochastic Optimization Methods for Complex Composite Objects in Macroscopic Baths.- Path Integral Monte Carlo Simulation of Charged Particles in Traps.- Ab-Initio Methods in Physics and Chemistry.- Ab-Initio Approach to the Many-Electron Problem.- Ab-Initio Methods Applied to Structure Optimization and Microscopic Modelling.- Effective Field Approaches.- Dynamical Mean-Field Approximation and Cluster Methods for Correlated Electron Systems.- Local Distribution Approach.- Iterative Methods for Sparse Eigenvalue Problems.- Exact Diagonalization Techniques.- Chebyshev Expansion Techniques.- The Density Matrix Renormalisation Group: Concepts and Applications.- The Conceptual Background of Density-Matrix Renormalization.- Density-Matrix Renormalization Group Algorithms.- Dynamical Density-Matrix Renormalization Group.- Studying Time-Dependent Quantum Phenomena with the Density-Matrix Renormalization Group.- Applications of Quantum Information in the Density-Matrix Renormalization Group.- Density-Matrix Renormalization Group for Transfer Matrices: Static and Dynamical Properties of 1D Quantum Systems at Finite Temperature.- Concepts of High Performance Computing.- Architecture and Performance Characteristics of Modern High Performance Computers.- Optimization Techniques for Modern High Performance Computers.
720 citations
TL;DR: The evolution of mating preferences based on age, and in the relationship between longevity and fitness, are investigated to highlight the importance of understanding sexual selection from a life-history perspective.
Abstract: Females of many species choose to mate with old rather than young males, possibly because older males pass superior genes on to their offspring. Recent theoretical and empirical investigations have rejuvenated interest in the evolution of mating preferences based on age, and in the relationship between longevity and fitness. If the cost of signalling is a reduction in future survival and reproduction, mate choice based on age is one possible outcome when males signal their genetic quality. These recent investigations highlight the importance of understanding sexual selection from a life-history perspective.
300 citations
"Age-based mate choice in the monand..." refers background in this paper
...For example, older males may have reduced mating opportunities in the future and so invest more in current offspring, providing a direct benefit to females that choose them (Brooks & Kemp, 2001)....
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