Polyandry enhances offspring viability with survival costs to mothers only when mating exclusively with virgin males in Drosophila melanogaster |
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| Authors: | Sergio Castrezana Brant C Faircloth William C Bridges Patricia Adair Gowaty |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA;2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Washington, DC, USA;3. Department of Mathematical Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA;4. Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
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| Abstract: | A prominent hypothesis for polyandry says that male–male competitive drivers induce males to coerce already‐mated females to copulate, suggesting that females are more likely to be harassed in the presence of multiple males. This early sociobiological idea of male competitive drive seemed to explain why sperm‐storing females mate multiply. Here, we describe an experiment eliminating all opportunities for male–male behavioral competition, while varying females’ opportunities to mate or not with the same male many times, or with many other males only one time each. We limited each female subject's exposure to no more than one male per day over her entire lifespan starting at the age at which copulations usually commence. We tested a priori predictions about relative lifespan and daily components of RS of female Drosophila melanogaster in experimental social situations producing lifelong virgins, once‐mated females, lifelong monogamous, and lifelong polyandrous females, using a matched‐treatments design. Results included that (1) a single copulation enhanced female survival compared to survival of lifelong virgins, (2) multiple copulations enhanced the number of offspring for both monogamous and polyandrous females, (3) compared to females in lifelong monogamy, polyandrous females paired daily with a novel, age‐matched experienced male produced offspring of enhanced viability, and (4) female survival was unchallenged when monogamous and polyandrous females could re‐mate with age‐ and experienced‐matched males. (5) Polyandrous females daily paired with novel virgin males had significantly reduced lifespans compared to polyandrous females with novel, age‐matched, and experienced males. (6) Polyandrous mating enhanced offspring viability and thereby weakened support for the random mating hypothesis for female multiple mating. Analyzes of nonequivalence of variances revealed opportunities for within‐sex selection among females. Results support the idea that females able to avoid constraints on their behavior from simultaneous exposure to multiple males can affect both RS and survival of females and offspring. |
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| Keywords: |
Drosophila melanogaster
female lifespan monogamy multiple mating offspring viability |
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