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1.
Summary Tengmalm's owl Aegolius funereus is a hole-nesting polygynous species in which female nomadism is a reaction to cyclic lows of staple prey. For 2 years during a peak in vole abundance, I examined recruitment of mates and male singing behavior in a local population. Females and about half of the breeding males seemed to arrive successively throughout the breeding period of the first year. In contrast, a majority of the breeding males and likely also females were already on the breeding grounds at the beginning of the breeding season in the second year. Before breeding in the first peak year, males were singing at up to five different nest holes. All early breeding males (67% of total number) continued to sing at secondary nest holes after attracting and installing primary females. Secondary singing locations were never closer than 300 m from primary females' nest holes, although closer locations were used for singing before mating. All bigynous males with nests within the study area were also singing at tertiary nest holes, but none successfully attracted a third female. Polyterritoriality was confirmed by a late male settling between primary and secondary nest holes of a bigynous male. Polyterritorial behavior and reduced breeding success of secondary females are in line with the deception model. Females apparently could not discriminate between paired and unpaired singing males. Females made short visits to different males before mating. During courtship, the number and quality of nest holes defended by males may have been of particular importance to female choice.  相似文献   

2.
Although the effects of male mating history on female reproductive output and longevity have been studied in insects, few such studies have been carried out in spiders. In a mating system in which females are monandrous while males are polygynous, females may incur the risk by mating with successful males that have experienced consecutive matings and suffer from the possible depletion of sperm and/or associated ejaculates. Here, we examine the effects of male mating history on male courtship and copulation duration, female reproductive fitness, and female adult longevity of the wolf spider, Pardosa astrigera. Results indicated that male mating frequency had little effect on their subsequent copulation success, and of 35 males tested, about half of the males were able to copulate with five virgin females successively at an interval of 24 h. Male mating history had little effect on their courtship duration. However, male mating history significantly affected male copulation duration, female adult longevity, and reproductive output. Males that mated more frequently copulated longer and more likely failed to cause their mates to produce a clutch, although there was no significant difference in the number of eggs laid and the number of eggs hatched regardless of the first clutch or the second one. Multiple mating of male P. astrigera resulted in significant reduction in female adult longevity. Our results indicate that monandrous females mating with multiple-mated males may incur substantial fitness costs.  相似文献   

3.
Postcopulatory processes can influence male reproductive success in several animal species. Females can use different mechanisms to bias male paternity after copulation. One of such mechanisms consists in expelling all or part of the ejaculate after copulation. Euxesta bilimeki is an Ulidiid fly whose females not only frequently expel ejaculates after mating but also consume the ejaculate after expulsion. In order to understand the significance of these behaviors we examined video recordings of courtship, copulatory, and postcopulatory behaviours. The presence of sperm in female storage organs was confirmed after mating with males of different sizes and was correlated with duration of courtship, copulation, and the period from the end of copulation to ejaculate expulsion. The effect of ejaculate consumption on female fitness (fecundity and longevity) was compared among females held under different dietary treatments: a rich diet consisting of protein, sugar and water, an intermediate diet composed of sugar and water, a poor diet of only water and females that were completely deprived of food and water. All of the observed females expelled ejaculates after mating. The probability of storing sperm in the two spermathecae and the ventral receptacle was correlated with interactions between the duration of all behaviours examined and male size. Except for starved females, who lived longer when allowed to consume ejaculates, ejaculate consumption had no effect on fitness. Results suggest that females can bias sperm storage according to male mating effort, while the consumed ejaculate had some nutritional value only evident when females were completely starved.  相似文献   

4.
Summary The willingness of some females of the checkered white butterfly to approach and chase conspecifies was studied in the field. Both virgin and mated females were observed approaching and chasing conspecifics. Such responses to males result in the solicitation or continuation of male courtship attempts, which in turn may lead to copulation.Mated females that approached conspecifics had significantly smaller spermatophores than females in a random sample from the same population.Females that approached tethered animals spent more time chasing tethered males than tethered females. Females with small spermatophores spent more time chasing tethered males than did females with larger spermatophores.These results confirm the hypothesis that mated females that approach and chase conspecifics are doing so in an effort to solicit male courtship attempts and to potentially receive a fresh spermatophore. The selective forces favoring courtship solicitation by females are discussed.  相似文献   

5.
Field studies demonstrate that natural populations of a group of water striders (Heteroptera: Gerridae) that share a common mating system are characterized by weak assortative mating by size and by large sizes of mating males and females relative to single individuals. This study presents an experimental assessment of the components of mating that may contribute to these mating patterns. The effects of male and female body size on each of three components of mating were studied in three water strider species in the laboratory. Large females of all three species mated more frequently, copulated for longer and were guarded longer than small females. Large males mated more frequently than small males in all three species, and also guarded females for longer in the two species where the average of mate guarding was long. However, we found an antagonistic effect of male size on copulation duration: small males copulated for longer than large males in all three species. We show that the combined effects of these size biases mimic the mating patterns found in the wild, e.g. weak and variable assortative mating, and stronger and less variable size ratios of mating versus non-mating females relative to males. We suggest that the antagonistic effects of male size on copulation and guarding duration may be a key source of interpopulational variation in assortative mating and sexual selection on male size. Further, neither spatial or temporal covariation in size, nor mechanical constraints, caused the assortative mating observed here in this group of water striders. Some combination of male and female choice (either active or passive forms) of large mates and male-male exploitation competition for mates play potentially important roles in producing population level assortative mating in water striders. Received: 17 March 1995/Accepted after revision: 28 October 1995  相似文献   

6.
Sexual selection theory predicts that a higher investment in offspring will turn females into the selective sex, while males will compete for accessing and courting them. However, there are exceptions to the rule. When males present a high reproductive investment, sex roles can reverse from typical patterns, turning males into the choosy sex, while females locate males and initiate courtship. In many spiders, males are smaller than females, wandering in search of sedentary females and maximizing the number of copulations. In the present study, we present findings on the sand-dwelling wolf spider, Allocosa brasiliensis, evidencing a reversal in typical courtship roles reported for the first time in spiders. Males were bigger than females. Females located males and initiated courtship. Copulation always occurred in male burrows and took place mainly in long burrows. Males donated their burrows to the females after copulation, closing the entrance before leaving with female cooperation from inside. Males would provide females with a secure place for ovipositing, being exposed to predation and diminishing their future mating possibilities until constructing a new burrow. The cost of vacating the burrow and losing the refuge in an unpredictable habitat, such as sand dunes, would explain the courtship roles reversal in this spider species. Results turn A. brasiliensis as a promising model for discussing the determinants of sex roles and the pressures that drive their evolution and maintenance. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi: ) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.  相似文献   

7.
Summary Female milkweed leaf beetles (Labidomera clivicollis clivicollis) frequently mate with more than one male, and pairs form mating associations which last for up to 42 h in the field. I tested the hypothesis that males remaining with females for long periods of time benefit by numerically overwhelming the sperm of their competitors. Male L.c.clivicollis copulated intermittently with females throughout an 11 hour period in the laboratory. When virgin females were allowed a single copulation, 94.3% of the sperm they received were located in the spermatheca immediately afterward. Males were not sperm-depleted, for they had large numbers of sperm available after one copulation (mean=230,000±43,200); the maximal number of sperm a male transferred to a female in 24 h was 30,500. There was a positive linear relationship between the number of sperm transferred and time up to 24 h after mounting (r 2=0.178, P<0.003). These data suggest that males transfer increasing numbers of sperm throughout a 24-h-period. Mating duration was the most important determinant of paternity when females were placed with one male for 24 h and another male for 6 hours. Females whose first matings were longer showed first male sperm predominance (as determined by starch-gel electrophoresis), while females whose second matings were longer showed last male sperm predominance. In view of these data, it is puzzling that males do not inseminate with large numbers of sperm immediately after mounting the female. It is possible that female refractory behaviors make insemination difficult and favor prolonged mating by male milkweed leaf beetles.  相似文献   

8.
Recent studies have suggested that conflicts of interests between the sexes may lead to variation in copulation behavior among pairs. We examined differences in the rate and timing of copulation solicitations and copulations among females of different mating status in the facultatively polygynous starling in an attempt to explain why females copulate repeatedly with their mate. All within-pair copulations were female-solicited indicating that females control copulations in the starling. Before egg laying, females solicited copulations at a high rate (usually more than 2 per hour). In contrast to most other species studied so far, females continued to solicit copulations throughout the egg laying period, and also solicited after egg laying (the latest solicitation occurred when the nestlings were 4 days old). Primary females solicited more copulations than monogamous females both during and after the fertile period. Many copulation solicitations of primary females occurred at the nestbox where their male was singing to obtain an extra female. Both primary and secondary females solicited more copulations after the egg-laying period than monogamous females. A large proportion of female copulation solicitations was refused by the male partner: female solicitation resulted in more male refusals in primary females than in monogamous females. Primary females were more likely to be chased aggressively when they solicited a copulation than monogamous females; most aggressive chases occurred when primary females flew towards their male to solicit copulation when he was singing at another nestbox. Overall, our results demonstrate that there is a conflict over copulation between males and females in polygynous pairs. The conflict presumably relates to the cost of sharing male parental investment: females use copulation solicitation behavior to interrupt their singing males apparently in an attempt to prevent them from becoming polygynous. We present the first empirical evidence that female songbirds use copulation solicitation behavior as a form of mate guarding, often in a non-reproductive context. We did not find a positive relationship between copulation rate during the fertile period and the amount of male parental care as is predicted by the paternity confidence hypothesis.  相似文献   

9.
Sexual conflict in the snake den   总被引:3,自引:0,他引:3  
Red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) court and mate in spring, soon after they emerge from large communal overwintering dens in south-central Manitoba. Because of a massive bias in the operational sex ratio, every female attracts intense courtship from dozens to hundreds of males. We suggest that this courtship constitutes significant ”harassment,” because it delays the females’ dispersal from the den and hence increases their vulnerability to predation. Small females may face the greatest costs, because they are less able to escape from amorous males (who court all females, even juvenile animals). Our measurements show that males are stronger and faster than females. Experimental trials confirm that the locomotor ability of females (especially small females) is greatly reduced by the weight of a courting male. Arena trials show that intense courtship stimulates females to attempt to escape. Remarkably, some females that are too small to produce offspring may nonetheless copulate. This precocious sexual receptivity may benefit juvenile females because copulation renders them unattractive to males, and thus allows them to escape more easily from the den. Female ”tactics” to escape male harassment may explain other puzzling aspects of garter snake biology including size-assortative mating, temporal patterns in dispersal from the den, avoidance of communal dens by young-of-the-year snakes, and female mimicry. Hence, sexual conflict may have influenced important features of the mating system and behavioral ecology of these animals. Received: 8 May 2000 / Revised: 28 July 2000 / Accepted: 30 July 2000  相似文献   

10.
A cost of mating is common to both sexes but has predominantly been examined in females. In species where males provide resources to females at copulation, male mating costs are expected to be high as nutrient provisioning enhancing female fecundity is assumed to carry costs. In addition, males frequently court females prior to mating, which is known to carry survival costs to both sexes. However, the magnitude and basis of variation in males’ mating costs remains largely unknown. Here, I examine the effect of nutrient provisioning and courtship on male longevity across full-sib families in the paternally investing green-veined white butterfly, Pieris napi. Copulating males suffered a survival cost as did courting males prevented from copulating, indicating the courtship component of mating is costly. Male P. napi release aphrodisiacs during courtship to promote mating, indicating that these compounds may also be costly to produce. Contrary to expectation, nutrient provisioning was not associated with reduced survival relative to males only allowed to court females, although it is possible that this could be masked by the potentially elevated courtship rates of courting males relative to mating males. Families differed in magnitude of reduced male survivorship, indicating a likely genetic basis to variation in costs of courtship and copulation. Male weight was unrelated to longevity and mating success, whereas longevity strongly influenced male mating success, indicating lifespan is an important male fitness trait in this species.  相似文献   

11.
There is increasing evidence that female mate choice is often based on the assessment of multiple male traits, involving both morphology and behavior. We investigated female mate choice for multiple male traits in the palmate newt, Lissotriton helveticus, including male tail filament length, hind foot web size, crest development, body size, ventral coloration, and courtship display activity. Observations of courtship display in the field revealed that females spent more time in front of males with longer tail filaments. Laboratory experiments revealed a more detailed relationship between filament length and courtship display. We found that females took more sperm masses from males with both longer filaments and greater display activity. Experimental shortening of the tail filament length substantially decreased the number of male sperm masses transferred. However, when we experimentally reversed relative filament length between two males in mating trials, male mating success was explained by courtship activity and not by filament length. Our results show that female palmate newts value multiple traits during mate choice, including both morphological ornaments and reproductive behaviors in males. Our results further suggest that, when filament length is below a certain threshold, females may value the information content of courtship activity over that of filament length.  相似文献   

12.
Summary The loud and elaborate songs of male songbirds are throught to serve in territorial defense and to stimulate reproductive behavior in the female. We report here that in contrast to several other species, song alone is inadequate to induce sexual (lordosis) behavior in female indigo and lazuli buntings (Passerina cyanea and P. amoena); they require a more elaborate stimulus configuration to develop the full expression of sexual receptivity as indicated by a stereotyped copulation solicitation display. A live male must be present near the female, singing must ensue, and in addition a second and unique vocal utterance must be heard by the female; this is a soft buzzy-sounding vocalization, audible for no more than a few meters, not recognized previously as a critical arousal signal of the male songbird repertoire. Females also utter similar soft sounds in an intimate vocal exchange with the male leading to solicitation of copulation.  相似文献   

13.
In species without nuptial gifts or parental care, postcopulatory attendance of females by males has generally been interpreted as males guarding against sperm competition. Guarding benefits may be concurrent with attendance (the guarding-now hypothesis), or male behavior during attendance may make the female unreceptive (the guarding in absentia hypothesis). However, in addition to guarding functions, attendance may provide the male with an opportunity to influence the female's use of sperm. In haplodiploids such as hymenopterans, doing so may be beneficial because only daughters and not sons are produced sexually and so influence male reproductive success (the sex ratio hypothesis). In the parasitoid wasp Urolepis rufipes, postcopulatory attendance involved the male remaining mounted after copulation and resuming courtship. Support for the guarding-now hypothesis was limited. A male's presence on a female did not reduce the probability, or quickness, of another male mounting, and second-mounted males frequently copulated. The guarding in absentia hypothesis was not supported. Females became unreceptive soon after mating even when copulation and postcopulatory attendance were experimentally prevented. The sex ratio hypothesis was supported. Postcopulatory attendance caused females to produce more daughters. They also produced more total offspring. Thus, a male should stay and should not go even in the absence of other males, at least when opportunities for other matings are absent as in the present study. Although most studies of offspring sex ratios have focused on maternal control, this study provides an example of apparently adaptive male influence on sex ratio.  相似文献   

14.
Summary Acanthemblemaria crockeri exhibits a resource defense polygyny mating system with male parental care. Females preferred to mate with the larger of two males in laboratory experiments, and male size was positively correlated with the number of eggs defended by males at two sites in the Gulf of California, Baja California, Mexico. Females appeared to avoid mating with males defending heavily-fouled shelters. The role of other factors including the intensity of male courtship coloration and displays in determining male reproductive success was studied in Bahia San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico by providing glass vials as shelters. This provided a non-destructive technique for counting of eggs defended by males and allowed repeated assessment of the reproductive success of individual males. Males varied greatly in their duration of residency of shelters and in their color score and intensity of courtship displays. The number of eggs received by males was positively correlated with their duration of residency in shelters, and females appeared to avoid mating with new residents. Mated males deserted shelters less frequently and were more likely to receive future matings than were unmated males. The mean color score of males was unrelated to their reproductive success, while the intensity of male courtship displays was negatively correlated with the number of eggs received. This may have resulted because female mate choice is based on multiple criteria, including some that more accurately reflect the quality of parental care afforded by males.  相似文献   

15.
Summary Copulation in Lygaeus equestris L. (Heteroptera, Lygaeidae) is known to last 0.5–24 h. Variations in copula duration of field-collected insects were studied in the laboratory, and different hypotheses concerning the significance of prolonged copulations were tested.Through reciprocal matings with normal and sterile (irradiated) males, sperm displacement was estimated at about 90%. A male could thus increase his fitness by preventing subsequent matings of an inseminated female.Copulations with virgin insects, observed over 15 h, were classified in two categories: short (0.5–8.0 h) and long (> 15 h) duration (Fig. 1). No difference in the number of fertilized eggs was found between long and short copulations, and the insemination rate was highest during the first hour of a couplation (Fig. 2). Long-lasting couplations did not give rise to increased sperm displacement (Table 2). These results indicate that there is no difference in the amount of sperm transferred during short and long copulations and that no insemination takes place during the latter part of a prolonged copulation.Longer lasting copulations occurred when the sex ratio was male-biased than when it was female-biased (Fig. 1). The frequency of prolonged copulations was higher when the female was gravid than when she contained no eggs (virgin) (Figs. 3 and 4). Support is thus given to the hypothesis that prolonged copulation is a male postinsemination strategy to prevent subsequent matings of a female.Females subjected to male competition over a longer period, laid fewer eggs and died earlier than females that were mated but subsequently isolated from males (Fig. 5). Egg batches from females living with males were larger than batches from mated, isolated females (Table 3). This is probably due to a combination of many matings with short intermissions and prolonged copulations, both of which postpone oviposition.Comparisons between copulations of males with either gravid or virgin females during these experiments, led to the conclusion that short copulations with virgin females result from a male decision to terminate copulation after insemination is completed, whereas copula duration with gravid females is more likely to depend on a combination of male and female behavior.  相似文献   

16.
In most species, males attack other males that attempt to gain fertilizations through sneak copulations. Here we report on a system where dominant males show a low level of aggression against sneakers at the initial stages of territory establishment. Females of the European bitterling, Rhodeus sericeus, lay their eggs in living mussels and males fertilize the eggs by releasing sperm over the mussels both before and after egg laying. When we allowed males to court females to a mussel containing no eggs at different male densities - one, two, four, or six males - the dominant male showed a low level of aggression against other males that released sperm. The dominant male became aggressive toward the other males only after eggs had been laid. This unusual pattern could be due to either some benefit of accepting sneakers or a high cost of aggression. We found support for both possibilities. The presence of several males decreased the time until a female spawned, whereas increased aggression by the dominant male against other males during a second female presentation, when the male was more territorial, interrupted courtship and increased the time until spawning. Females appeared to be attracted by both the presence of several males around a mussel and increased courtship under male competition. The bitterling mating system possibly differs from that of other species due to lack of investment in nest building and parental care, and high costs of defending the spawning site against sneakers.  相似文献   

17.
Summary Both male and female swallows Hirundo rustica have a mixed reproductive strategy (parental care for offspring and extra-pair couplations). Mate guarding protects females from male harassment and male swallows from being cuckolded. Females hide their fertile period by copulating successfully with their mates for an extended period during first clutches. Males guard in the pre-fertile period, when many unpaired males are present. Early breeding swallows guard more than late breeders since more sexual chases of females by non-mate males take place in the early period. Solitarily breeding females experience few chases by strange males; copulation frequency, length of copulation period and mate guarding is adjusted to a lower level than among colonial birds. Male guarding activity is more intense in the fertile than in the pre-fertile period. Guarding reduces success of extra-pair copulation attempts.Three female swallows each paired and copulated with a single male and later changed to a new male before starting to breed. Extra-pair copulations most often take place between neighbouring swallows in the fertile period of the female. Many old, early breeding males and many young, late breeding females participate in extra-pair couplations. Successful extra-pair copulations peak in the fertile period contrary to success of pair copulations which does not change during the copulation period.  相似文献   

18.
Summary I experimentally examined the relative importance of social dominance, color patterns, and courtship behavior in male mating and reproductive success in the guppy Poecilia reticulata. Female choice of males is based on a complex set of behavioral and morphological traits. The results of 59 paired-male one-female visual choice and mating trials showed that male mating success was positively correlated with dominance, courtship intensity, and male coloration. Only dominant males engaged in full copoulations, and they sired two-thirds of the broods. An analysis of the paternity of broods and results of mating trials showed that a female's visual response when the sexes are separated by a glass partition is a good predictor of a male's reproductive success when the partition is removed and they are allowed to mate. A canonical correlation analysis of male behavioral and morphological traits indicated that female visual response and male mating success were positively correlated with male courtship and with agonistic behavior. However, the relative importance of color varied. Carotenoid and iridescent spots were important both in attracting the female's attention and in enhancing male mating success. Melanins were not correlated with either mating success or female response. There was a relatively low correlation (48%) between male behavioral and morphological variables and female response variables (full copulation and female visual response). These results suggest that female choice is subtle, and is based on a complex suite of male behavioral and morphological traits as well as on competitive interactions among males.  相似文献   

19.
In double mating experiments, we examined whether and to what extent various male and female behavioural traits influence the course of mating and fertilization success in the cellar spider. In males, we focussed on pre-copulatory behaviour and on the rhythmic twisting movements that the male performs with his pedipalps during copulation. In females, we investigated remating decisions and the effect of female termination of copulation. Second males fertilized a high proportion of the eggs (P 2: median 89%) despite much shorter second matings, with high variation in relative paternity success. The number of pedipalp movements (PPMs) of either male was a better predictor of paternity than copulation duration. Our results suggest that in second matings, PPMs help to remove sperm from previous males, whereas in first matings a high number of PPMs enhances fertilization success, either due to numerical sperm competition or cryptic female choice. Furthermore, we found a negative male age effect on paternity in second matings, implying that age-related deterioration of spermatozoa may promote variation in fertilization success. Female receptivity decreased significantly in second matings; only 70% of the females remated. Females that accepted a second copulation were found to terminate these much earlier and with higher probability than first matings. This suggests that the intensity of conflict between the sexes is higher in second matings. Increased intensity of sexual conflict may be responsible for stronger selection on male traits, as pre-copulatory behaviour and age only affected male copulatory performance and paternity in second matings. Electronic Publication  相似文献   

20.
Thirteen pairs of blue-footed boobies (Sula nebouxii) were observed on their colony. Pairs courted frequently and, on average, copulated 24 times during the 30 days before laying, with 38% of those copulations occurring in the last 5 days (presumed fertile period). Males and females increased attendance at the nest site as laying approached. Seven females performed an average seven extra-pair copulations, with 1–2 paired male neighbors, but these were less concentrated in the presumed fertile period than within-pair copulations, and the last two copulations of all 7 females were with their social mates. Rates of female extra-pair copulations were six times lower when their social mate was present, and during the presumed fertile period, no female performed an extra-pair copulation in the presence of her mate. Males did not respond to infidelity of social mates with aggression, prompt copulation, retaliatory copulation, or increase in copulation. Seven of 13 males performed an average of five extra-pair copulations, with 1–3 paired female neighbors, before their own mates began egg-laying. The males' extra-pair copulations represented only 4% of their total copulations during their own mates' presumed fertile periods. Females, the larger sex, apparently control sexual access and copulate with extra males to achieve extra-pair fertilization. Males pursue a mixed strategy: they copulate with extra females, mostly outside their own mate's presumed fertile period, and they copulate increasingly with their social mate as laying approaches, probably assuring some paternity by mate guarding, involving attendance and courtship. Behavior of males and females is also consistent with other hypotheses for extensive joint nest site attendance: pairbonding, copulation access, and territory acquisition. Received: 14 November 1997 / Accepted after revision: 16 May 1998  相似文献   

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