Browse
Submit Data
Databases
API
Help

Dataset Information

21 Views

0 Connections

0 Citations

0 Reanalyses

0 Downloads

Omics score: 0

Sexual signalling by females: do unmated females increase their signalling effort?

ABSTRACT: Theory predicts that females should invest least in mate searching when young, but increase their effort with age if they remain unmated. Few studies have examined variation in female sexual signalling. Female Dawson's burrowing bees (Amegilla dawsoni) search for males by signalling their receptivity on emergence, but many leave the emergence site unmated and must attract males at feeding sites. Female bees prevented from mating on emergence had more extreme versions of cuticular hydrocarbon profiles that make them attractive to males, lending empirical evidence of adaptive shifts in female mating effort.

SUBMITTER: Simmons LW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4528477 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Json Xml

Publications

Sexual signalling by females: do unmated females increase their signalling effort?

Simmons Leigh W LW

Biology letters 20150601 6

Theory predicts that females should invest least in mate searching when young, but increase their effort with age if they remain unmated. Few studies have examined variation in female sexual signalling. Female Dawson's burrowing bees (Amegilla dawsoni) search for males by signalling their receptivity on emergence, but many leave the emergence site unmated and must attract males at feeding sites. Female bees prevented from mating on emergence had more extreme versions of cuticular hydrocarbon pro ...[more]

PMID: 26109613

Similar Datasets

Females increase current reproductive effort when future access to males is uncertain.

Project description:Trade-offs between current and future reproduction shape life histories of organisms, e.g. increased mortality selects for earlier reproductive effort, and mate limitation has been shown to shape male life histories. Here, we show that female life histories respond adaptively to mate limitation. Female common gobies (Pomatoschistus microps) respond to a female-biased operational sex ratio by strongly increasing the size of their first clutch. The plastic response is predicted by a model that assumes that females use the current competitive situation to predict future difficulties of securing a mating. Because female clutch size decisions are much more closely linked to population dynamics than male life-history traits, plastic responses to mate-finding limitations may be an underappreciated force in population dynamics.

| S-EPMC2429940 | biostudies-literature

dSmad2 differentially regulates dILP2 and dILP5 in insulin producing and circadian pacemaker cells in unmated adult females.

Project description:Much is known about environmental influences on metabolism and systemic insulin levels. Less is known about how those influences are translated into molecular mechanisms regulating insulin production. To better understand the molecular mechanisms we generated marked cells homozygous for a null mutation in the Drosophila TGF-β signal transducer dSmad2 in unmated adult females. We then conducted side-by-side single cell comparisons of the pixel intensity of two Drosophila insulin-like peptides (dILP2 and dILP5) in dSmad2- mutant and wild type insulin producing cells (IPCs). The analysis revealed multiple features of dSmad2 regulation of dILPs. In addition, we discovered that dILP5 is expressed and regulated by dSmad2 in circadian pacemaker cells (CPCs). Outcomes of regulation by dSmad2 differ between dILP2 and dILP5 within IPCs and differ for dILP5 between IPCs and CPCs. Modes of dSmad2 regulation differ between dILP2 and dILP5. dSmad2 antagonism of dILP2 in IPCs is robust but dSmad2 regulation of dILP5 in IPCs and CPCs toggles between antagonism and agonism depending upon dSmad2 dosage. Companion studies of dILP2 and dILP5 in the IPCs of dCORL mutant (fussel in Flybase and SKOR in mammals) and upd2 mutant unmated adult females showed no significant difference from wild type. Taken together, the data suggest that dSmad2 regulates dILP2 and dILP5 via distinct mechanisms in IPCs (antagonist) and CPCs (agonist) and in unmated adult females that dSmad2 acts independently of dCORL and upd2.

| S-EPMC9870127 | biostudies-literature

Male black widows parasitize mate-searching effort of rivals to find females faster.

Project description:Mate-searching success is a critical precursor to mating, but there is a dearth of research on traits and tactics that confer a competitive advantage in finding potential mates. Theory and available empirical evidence suggest that males locate mates using mate-attraction signals produced by receptive females (personal information) and avoid inadvertently produced cues from rival males (social information) that indicate a female has probably already mated. Here, we show that western black widow males use both kinds of information to find females efficiently, parasitizing the searching effort of rivals in a way that guarantees competition over mating after reaching a female's web. This tactic may be adaptive because female receptivity is transient, and we show that (i) mate searching is risky (88% mortality) and (ii) a strongly male-biased operational sex ratio (from 1.2 : 1 to more than 10 : 1) makes competition inevitable. Males with access to rivals' silk trails moved at higher speeds than those with only personal information, and located females even when personal information was unreliable or absent. We show that following rivals can increase the potential for sexual selection on females as well as males and argue it may be more widespread in nature than is currently realized.

| S-EPMC6710583 | biostudies-literature

The coevolution of sexual imprinting by males and females.

Project description:Sexual imprinting is the learning of a mate preference by direct observation of the phenotype of another member of the population. Sexual imprinting can be paternal, maternal, or oblique if individuals learn to prefer the phenotypes of their fathers, mothers, or other members of the population, respectively. Which phenotypes are learned can affect trait evolution and speciation rates. "Good genes" models of polygynous systems predict that females should evolve to imprint on their fathers, because paternal imprinting helps females to choose mates that will produce offspring that are both viable and sexy. Sexual imprinting by males has been observed in nature, but a theory for the evolution of sexual imprinting by males does not exist. We developed a good genes model to study the conditions under which sexual imprinting by males or by both sexes can evolve and to ask which sexual imprinting strategies maximize the fitness of the choosy sex. We found that when only males imprint, maternal imprinting is the most advantageous strategy. When both sexes imprint, it is most advantageous for both sexes to use paternal imprinting. Previous theory suggests that, in a given population, either males or females but not both will evolve choosiness in mating. We show how environmental change can lead to the evolution of sexual imprinting behavior by both sexes in the same population.

| S-EPMC5513227 | biostudies-literature

Sexual selection for bright females prevails under light pollution.

Project description: Not available

| S-EPMC8489004 | biostudies-literature

Sexual selection in females and the evolution of polyandry.

Project description:Over the last decades, the field of sexual selection underwent a paradigm shift from sexual-stereotype thinking of "eager" males and "coy" females towards a more nuanced perspective acknowledging that not only males but also females can benefit from multiple mating and compete for mating partners. Yet, sexual selection in females is still considered a peculiarity, and the evolution of polyandry is often viewed to result from a higher mating interest of males. Here, we present meta-analytic evidence from 77 species across a broad range of animal taxa to demonstrate that female reproductive success is overall positively correlated with mating success, suggesting that females typically benefit from multiple mating. Importantly, we found that these fitness gains likely promote the evolution of polyandry. Our findings offer support for the idea that sexual selection is widespread in females and to play a key role for the evolution of animal mating systems. Thereby, our results extend our understanding of the evolutionary consequences of sexual reproduction and contribute to a more balanced view of how sexual selection operates in males and females.

| S-EPMC9831318 | biostudies-literature

Both male and female identity influence variation in male signalling effort.

Project description:BackgroundMale sexual displays play an important role in sexual selection by affecting reproductive success. However, for such displays to be useful for female mate choice, courtship should vary more among than within individual males. In this regard, a potentially important source of within male variation is adjustment of male courtship effort in response to female traits. Accordingly, we set out to dissect sources of variation in male courtship effort in a fish, the desert goby (Chlamydogobius eremius). We did so by designing an experiment that allowed simultaneous estimation of within and between male variation in courtship, while also assessing the importance of the males and females as sources of courtship variation.ResultsAlthough males adjusted their courtship depending on the identity of the female (a potentially important source of within-male variation), among-male differences were considerably greater. In addition, male courtship effort towards a pair of females was highly repeatable over a short time frame.ConclusionDespite the plasticity in male courtship effort, courtship displays had the potential to reliably convey information about the male to mate-searching females. Our experiment therefore underscores the importance of addressing the different sources contributing to variation in the expression of sexually-selected traits.

| S-EPMC3163561 | biostudies-literature

Socially cued anticipatory adjustment of female signalling effort in a moth.

Project description:Juvenile population density has profound effects on subsequent adult development, morphology and reproductive investment. Yet, little is known about how the juvenile social environment affects adult investment into chemical sexual signalling. Male gumleaf skeletonizer moths, Uraba lugens, facultatively increase investment into antennae (pheromone receiving structures) when reared at low juvenile population densities, but whether there is comparable adjustment by females into pheromone investment is not known. We investigate how juvenile population density influences the 'calling' (pheromone-releasing) behaviour of females and the attractiveness of their pheromones. Female U. lugens adjust their calling behaviour in response to socio-sexual cues: adult females reared in high juvenile population densities called earlier and for longer than those from low juvenile densities. Juvenile density also affected female pheromonal attractiveness: Y-maze olfactometer assays revealed that males prefer pheromones produced by females reared at high juvenile densities. This strategic investment in calling behaviour by females, based on juvenile cues that anticipate the future socio-sexual environment, likely reflects a response to avoid mating failure through competition with neighbouring signallers.

| S-EPMC7775976 | biostudies-literature

Does male reproductive effort increase with age? Courtship in fiddler crabs.

Project description:Theory suggests that reproductive effort generally increases with age, but life-history models indicate that other outcomes are possible. Empirical data are needed to quantify variation in actual age-dependence. Data are readily attainable for females (e.g. clutch per egg size), but not for males (e.g. courtship effort). To quantify male effort one must: (i) experimentally control for potential age-dependent changes in female presence; and, crucially, (ii) distinguish between the likelihood of courtship being initiated, the display rate, and the total time invested in courting before stopping ('courtship persistence'). We provide a simple experimental protocol, suitable for many taxa, to illustrate how to obtain this information. We studied courtship waving by male fiddler crabs, Uca annulipes. Given indeterminate growth, body size is correlated with age. Larger males were more likely to wave at females and waved more persistently. They did not, however, have a higher courtship rate (waves per second). A known female preference for males with higher display rates explains why, once waving is initiated, all males display at the same rate.

| S-EPMC3639757 | biostudies-literature