Postcopulatory sexual selection when a female mates once

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.03.003

Animal Behaviour

Volume 116, June 2016, Pages 13-16

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.03.003 Get rights and content

Highlights

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We outline the relationship between PCSS and female multiple mating.
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PCSS may occur in the absence of simultaneously competing ejaculates.
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PCSS can be measured using single- or multiple-mating experiments.
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PCSS may also select for male-imposed monandry.

Section snippets

PCSS does not require that ejaculates compete simultaneously

PCSS can be separated into its intrasexual (sperm competition) and intersexual (cryptic female choice) components. For both of these processes, selection may arise with or without the simultaneous overlap of ejaculates from different males in the female reproductive tract. We consider each separately below.

Sperm competition is a selective pressure that arises when there is the risk that a female will remate (or has already mated previously) with another male prior to the fertilization of her

Measuring PCSS

A consideration of the origin of PCSS is important when we want to measure the strength of selection acting on individuals or on specific phenotypic traits. Most often we are concerned with male postcopulatory reproductive success and PCSS on male phenotypes (PCSS acting on female traits has received less attention: Ah-King et al., 2014, Arnqvist, 2014, Eberhard, 1996). How should we go about measuring PCSS? Specifically, should we use a single- or multiple-mating experimental design? The

PCSS in strictly monandrous species

The fact that PCSS is driven by multiple mating suggests that it cannot occur in a species in which females always mate once. This is true for species that are monandrous due to life history or biological constraints (e.g. in mayflies that have such a short adult life span that the opportunity for multiple mating is very low). However, in other species monandry may be imposed on females by males (Hosken et al., 2009, Simmons, 2001, Wedell, 2005). For example, males may physically block the

Acknowledgments

We thank David Hosken for helpful discussion, and the Natural Environment Research Council (UK) [Grant number is 1109354 (DTG studentship to LRD)] and the Australian Research Council for funding.

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For example, in species, such as guppies, that have a high frequency of female multiple mating, but, unlike guppies, have total sperm precedence, postcopulatory pressures may contribute more to the evolution of male mating behaviours. In such cases, uncertainty about female mating history and order of arrival should be irrelevant if males assume that they are always the first or the last to mate, and if they have strategies to control sperm competition (e.g. mate guarding; Ridley, 1980, 1989) or to avoid sperm competition (e.g. mating plugs; Dougherty, Simmons, & Shuker, 2016). On the other hand, precopulatory selection may act more strongly on male mating behaviours in species with partial sperm precedence and less polyandry than in guppies (Turnell & Shaw, 2015).
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As highlighted by Eberhard (1996), postcopulatory cryptic female choice may be enabled by a number of mechanisms once mating is underway or over, which can prevent offspring production. Importantly, postcopulatory sexual selection does not explicitly require the overlap of ejaculates or multiple mating (Dougherty, Simmons, & Shuker, 2016). Consequently, mating failures may represent a mode of adaptive female choice in some species, allowing additional opportunities to reject males upon further assessment during copulation (Candolin, 2003; Eberhard, 1996).
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CommentaryPostcopulatory sexual selection when a female mates once

Highlights

Section snippets

PCSS does not require that ejaculates compete simultaneously

Measuring PCSS

PCSS in strictly monandrous species

Acknowledgments

First page preview

Journal of Theoretical Biology

Current Biology

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Genital evolution: why are females still understudied?

Plos Biology

Sexual cooperation and conflict in butterflies: a male–transferred anti–aphrodisiac reduces harassment of recently mated females

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Cryptic female choice

Sexual conflict

Insect seminal fluid proteins: identification and function

Annual Review of Entomology

A nonspecific fatty acid within the bumblebee mating plug prevents females from remating

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences