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Dyeing Insects for Behavioral Assays: the Mating Behavior of Anesthetized <em>Drosophila</em>

Mating experiments using Drosophila have contributed greatly to the understanding of sexual selection and behavior. Experiments often require simple, easy ...

University of Liverpool

Mating system variation is profound in animals. In insects, female willingness to remate varies from mating with hundreds of males (extreme polyandry) to never remating (monandry). This variation in female behaviour is predicted to affect the pattern of selection on males, with intense pre-copulatory sexual selection under monandry compared to a mix of pre- and post-copulatory forces affecting fitness under polyandry. We tested the hypothesis that differences in female mating biology would be reflected in different costs of pre-copulatory competition between males. We observed that exposure to rival males early in life was highly costly for males of a monandrous species, but had lower costs in the polyandrous species. Males from the monandrous species housed with competitors showed reduced ability to obtain a mate and decreased longevity. These effects were specific to exposure to rivals compared with other types of social interactions (heterospecific male and mated female) and were either absent or weaker in males of the polyandrous species. We conclude that males in monandrous species suffer severe physiological costs from interactions with rivals and note the significance of male-male interactions as a source of stress in laboratory culture.

Extreme cost of rivalry in a monandrous species: male-male interactions result in failure to acquire mates and reduced longevity.

Gut bacteria is now considered as an additional host organ, and it has been shown that they have important influences on host developmental and physiological processes. More recently gut bacteria have additionally been implicated in behavioral processes. We showed that in two species of Drosophila, gut bacteria variation affects behavior, altering partner investment in copulation in relation to whether individuals were familiar (i.e., having developed in the same environment), or were related. This suggests that gut bacteria play a role in kin recognition in these species. We suggest that this phenomenon is associated with gut bacteria influencing the scent profiles used by Drosophila in mate choice.

Chloe Heys

Institute of Integrative Biology

University of Liverpool

Dyeing Insects for Behavioral Assays: the Mating Behavior of Anesthetized Drosophila

Chloe Heys

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Institute of Integrative Biology

University of Liverpool

Dyeing Insects for Behavioral Assays: the Mating Behavior of Anesthetized Drosophila

Institute of Integrative Biology