Copulatory plugs do not assure high first male fertilisation success: sperm displacement in a lizard

Sperm competition selects for opposing male defensive and offensive reproductive traits, and its outcome may be determined by the effectiveness to which one trait has evolved to out-compete the other. We tested the effectiveness of a first male plug physical interference with a second male insemination (defence) vs the effectiveness of plug and associated sperm displacement by a second male (offence) on the outcome of sperm competition in Iberian rock lizards. We conducted a double mating experiment where we compared the proportion of eggs per clutch fertilised by the same second males (against the same first males) when they copulated with females 30 min (first male plug adhered firmly inside the female cloaca) and 4 h (first male plug loosely adhered or shed from the female cloaca) after first males. We found that second males fertilised the majority of the eggs per clutch in the 30-min treatment, whereas fertilisations were equally shared between the two males in the 4-h treatment. These results show that plugs have little defensive effectiveness, and thus, do not assure high first male fertilisation success. Instead, sperm displacement appears to be associated with plug displacement. That is, because sperm embedded in first male plugs, and displaced from competition for fertilisations by second males, is expected to increase in number with decreasing time allowed for female sperm transport, second males thus enjoy higher fertilisation success. This study shows that offensive plug displacement out-competes plug defensive role in Iberian rock lizards. Moreover, it reveals sperm displacement as a novel sperm competition mechanism in reptiles.     

Loss of mating opportunities influences refuge use in the Iberian rock lizard,<Emphasis Type="Italic"> Lacerta monticola</Emphasis>

Because time spent in refuge may be costly if prey lose opportunities to forage, fight, or mate, prey allow predators to approach closer before beginning to flee when opportunity costs are high. Because the same opportunity costs may apply to refuge use as to escape, prey should make similar trade-offs between risk of emerging and cost of remaining in refuge. In the Iberian rock lizard, Lacerta monticola, we studied the effects of sex, reproductive season, speed of predator approach, and potential loss of mating opportunities on time spent in refuge following simulated predatory attacks. Lizards of both sexes adjusted refuge use to the level of risk by spending more time in refuge when approached rapidly than slowly. Females remained in refuge for equal times in the mating and postreproductive seasons, but males emerged sooner during the mating season, suggesting adjustment to a cost of lost opportunity to search for mates during the mating season. When a tethered female was nearby, males emerged from refuge earlier than if no female was present, indicating a trade-off between risk and mating opportunity. Approach speed affected emergence time when females were absent, but not when a female was present. Approach speed did not affect the probability that, after emerging, a male would return to court the female. For males that courted females intensely (bit them) before entering refuge, approach speed did not affect latency to emerge, but males that courted less intensely emerged sooner if approached slowly than rapidly. These findings show that males adjust the length of time spent in refuge to both risk of predation and reproductive cost of refuge use.Communicated by A. Mathis     

Symmetry, male dominance and female mate preferences in the Iberian rock lizard, Lacerta monticola

Female preference for dominant males is widespread and it is generally assumed that success in male-male competition reflects high quality. However, male dominance is not always attractive to females. Alternatively, relatively symmetric individuals may experience fitness advantages, but it remains to be determined whether males with more symmetrical secondary sexual traits experience advantages in both intra- and intersexual selection. We analysed the factors that determine dominance status in males of the lizard Lacerta monticola, and their relationship to female mate preference, estimated by the attractiveness of males' scents to females. Sexually dimorphic traits of this lizard (head size and femoral pores) appear to be advanced by different selection pressures. Males with relatively higher heads, which give them advantage in intrasexual contests, were more dominant. However, head size was unimportant to females, which preferred to be in areas marked by relatively heavier males, but also by males more symmetric in their counts of left and right femoral pores. Chemicals arising from the femoral pores and other glands might honestly indicate quality (i.e. related to the symmetry levels) of a male to females and may result from intersexual selection. Females may use this information because the only benefit of mate choice to female lizards may be genetic quality. Chemical signals may be more reliable and have a greater importance in sexual selection processes of lizards than has previously been considered.     

Comparison of Spatial Methods for the Assessment of Planktonic Patches

Planktonic patches are defined as areas where the abundance of plankters is above a threshold value τ. The estimation of patch size and shape can be approached using spatial statistical tools, using truncated random fields or indicator random fields as classifiers. In all cases there is the risk of false positive and false negative errors. In this paper we present the results of a comparative study on the performance of four commonly used methods: conditional simulation and kriging, both in the original measurement units of the data and under an indicator transform. We used a misclassification cost function to compare the four methods. Our results show that conditional simulation in the original measurement units attains the lowest misclassification cost. We also illustrate how the point at which this minimum is attained can be used to chose an optimal cut-off value for binary classification. Received: December 2003 / Revised: June 2005     

A cost worth paying: energetically expensive interactions with males protect females from intrasexual aggression

When approached by males, females of the Amarillo fish (Girardinichthys multiradiatus) perform a behaviour called vibration or they are aggressively challenged. We quantified vibration and assessed whether it compromises the rate of feeding attempts in dyads kept in outdoor enclosures. Male approaches resulted in female vibration and in a reduced feeding rate. Vibration was not evoked by female–female aggression, which was frequent and always ended in the subordinate fleeing from the dominant female. Using a closed respirometer we found that vibration is costly; oxygen consumption of females was greater in the presence of a male (which evoked vibration) than in the presence of a non-familiar female (when no vibration occurred). By recording interactions of females confined in aquaria in the presence and in the absence of males, we confirmed that escaping is the only available response to deal with female aggression. Females kept without males participated in frequent aggressive (even lethal) interactions that did not abate while the subordinate female was in sight of the dominant, and which caused premature births and injuries. Yet in the alternative treatment aggression ceased when a male approached, prompting vibration in both females. Thus, in the Amarillo, in as much as it evokes energetically costly female vibrations, male courtship is an expression of sexual conflict. However, in the absence of males, frequent female aggression potentially annuls the benefits of not vibrating. We propose that a complete appraisal of the consequences of sexual conflict must include an assessment of the costs imposed by intra-sexual interactions.     

Control of reproduction in social insect colonies: individual and collective relatedness preferences in the paper wasp, Polistes annularis

Social insect colonies often have one or a few queens. How these queens maintain their reproductive monopoly, when other colony members could gain by sharing in the reproduction, is not generally known. DNA microsatellite genotyping is used to determine reproductive interests of various classes of colony members in the paper wasp, Polistes annularis. The relatedness estimates show that the best outcome for most individuals is to be the reproductive egg-layer. For workers, this depends on the sex of offspring: they should prefer to lay their own male eggs, but are indifferent if the queen lays the female eggs. The next-best choice is usually to support the current queen. As a rule, subordinates and workers should prefer the current queen to reproduce over other candidates (though subordinates have no strong preference for the queen over other subordinates, and workers may prefer other workers as a source of male eggs). This result supports the theory that reproductive monopoly stems from the collective preferences of non-reproductives, who suppress each other in favor of the queen. However, we reject the general hypothesis of collective worker control in this species because its predictions about who should succeed after the death of the present queen are not upheld. The first successor is a subordinate foundress even though workers should generally prefer a worker successor. If all foundresses have died, an older worker succeeds as queen, in spite of a collective worker preference for a young worker. The results support the previous suggestion that age serves as a conventional cue serving to reduce conflict over queen succession. Received: 3 May 1996 / Accepted after revision: 22 September 1996     

Nature of the action of a compost from olive mill wastewater on Cu sorption by soils

The reaction of two soils that have received composted OMW as manure with Cu solutions is studied. The data were fitted into a multi‐reaction model which considers both reversible and irreversible adsorption sites, and an ‘instantaneous’ fraction. The presence of composted OMW caused a strong increase in the distribution coefficient describing the instantaneous fraction, and the disappearance of the irreversible fraction. This behaviour was attributed to blocking of some sorbing surfaces by the organics, and to new surfaces present in the compost. These effects can have some environmental significance from the viewpoint of Cu mobility.     

Using phylogenetic comparative methods to gain insight into the evolution of social complexity

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology - Social complexity has been one of the recent emerging topics in the study of animal and human societies, but the concept remains both poorly defined and...     

Isolation and identification of intermediates from biodegradation of low chlorinated biphenyls (Delor-103)

Microorganism Pseudomonas species P2 metabolizes polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and biphenyl, producing the whole spectrum of intermediates, among them coloured intermediates, which are suitable for the monitoring of PCBs degradation by optical sensors. Knowledge of chemical structures and conditions of development of colour metabolites is necessary for application of optical analytical methods. The main goal of this work was the isolation and identification of intermediates from the biodegradation of the mixture of low chlorinated biphenyls (Delor-103), which is based on the solid phase extraction (SPE) of the whole mixture using LiChrolut EN cartridges, then silylation of the extract as one way to the identification of one part of intermediates by GC-MS, and acetylation of the extract as a way for the further concentration and analysis of more polar chlorobiphenylols and chlorobiphenyldiols. The combination of SPE and following acetylation allows to obtain chlorobiphenylols and chlorobiphenyldiols as an almost pure fraction. The acetylation method could be also used instead SPE procedure with the same final concentration effect. Using the simulation mass spectrometry program, two new compounds, dihydrodihydroxytrichloro- and tetrahydrodihydroxytrichlorobiphenyl, as silylderivatives, were identified.