Operational sex ratio versus gender density as determinants of copulation duration in the walnut fly,Rhagoletis juglandis (Diptera: Tephritidae) |
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Authors: | H Alonso-Pimentel Daniel R Papaj |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA, US;(2) Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA,, US |
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Abstract: | In laboratory and field studies of the walnut fly, Rhagoletis juglandis Cresson (Diptera: Tephritidae), we assessed the effect of operational sex ratio on copulation duration and partitioned the
sex ratio effect into component effects due to male density and female density. In our first laboratory experiment, results
were clearly consistent with theoretical expectation: increases in male density were associated with significant increases
in copulation duration while increases in female density were associated with significant decreases in copulation duration.
These component effects yielded a striking composite effect of operational sex ratio (OSR) on copulation duration in which
male-biased ratios were associated with low frequencies of short copulations and female-biased ratios were associated with
high frequencies of short copulations. Consistent with a priori expectations concerning costs of territorial behavior, the
effect of male density on copulation duration was stronger than that of female density. There was no significant interaction
between the effects of gender density on copulation duration: each gender density contributed additively to the composite
OSR effect on copulation duration. In contrast to the effect of OSR, overall density had little effect. Field data corroborated
these findings fully and showed additionally that OSR in the vicinity of fruit tended in nature to be male-biased. In a second
laboratory experiment, we measured copulation duration for individuals exposed alternately to male-biased and female-biased
ratios. Individual flies consistently copulated for longer in male-biased environments than in female-biased ones. We propose
that this plasticity permits individuals to track changes in local sex ratio over space and time and respond appropriately.
Received: 15 November 1995/Accepted after revision: 27 April 1996 |
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Keywords: | Sex ratio Density Copulation duration Mating systems Rhagoletis |
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