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Sem 2: Behavioural ecology > Week 7 > Flashcards

Week 7 Flashcards

1
Q

What is cryptic female choice?

A

Female mediated morphological, behavioural or physiological mechanisms that bias fertilisation toward sperm of specifc males

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2
Q

What was a study that had thought to have proven cryptic female choice?

A

H.nigriceps (Highland streaked tenrec) males offered prey of blow fly (Lucilla cuprina)
Larger fly meant long mating duration = higher fecundity

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3
Q

What was an issue with the idea that H.nigriceps females undergoing cryptic female choice?

A

Not confirmed to be female choice
Males influencing sucess by catching bigger prey, so male prey can influence sperm

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4
Q

When does cryptic female choice occur?

A

Opportunities for cryptic female choice occur when females mate polyandrously

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5
Q

What was an experiment were they tested for the importance of cryptic female choice?

A

In atlantic cod (Gadus morhua)
9 males and 8 females
Performed every cross combination (monogamously) (n=72)
Calculated survival for each cross

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6
Q

What was the average survival of the female atlantic cod offspring when they mated monogomously?

A

The offspring had a 1/3 chance of survival

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7
Q

What was the average survival of the female atlantic cod offspring when there were two males to choose from?

A

Survival for female offpsring increased to 0.45

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8
Q

What was the average survival of the female atlantic cod offspring as the number of males to choose from increased?

A

There was an increase in the survival rate everytime an additional male was added
When 9 males were reached offspring surival rate was 0.55, almost doubeled surival rate of offspring

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9
Q

What are the benefits of cryptic female choice?

A

If females could encourage fertilisation by the best of all the males- there are big gains to be made

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10
Q

What are the problems with provinf cryptic female choice?

A

Difficult to dissect apart male effects from female choice because often females benefit form being fertilised by the best male

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11
Q

What is an example that question cryptic female choice?

A

Why might big antlers win more fertilisations?
Cryptic female choice for males with big antlers or males with big antlers have more competitive sperm/get more matings/ better times matings

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12
Q

How did they try to prove cryptid female choice in arctiid moth (Utetheisa ornatrix)?

A

Mated female with a larger and smaller moth and then tracked paternity
Bigger male moths had more offspring so was seen as female choice for bigger male to fertilise more eggs

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13
Q

What was wrong with the experiment trying to prove cryptif female choice in arctidd moth?

A

The bigger male was more competitive sperm meaning it isnt cryptid female choice

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14
Q

How did they prove that it wasnt cryptic female choice in arctidd moths?

A

Virgin male spermatophore was bigger than mated spermatophore
Small male was virgin and large male was mated
More small males had more offspring, male size is irrelevant, the spermatophore size is what counts

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15
Q

What is an example of cryptic female choice in guppies?

A

Females prefer brighter males
Male guppies stripped of gametes
Sperm numbers equalised
Sperm mixed from two males
Females inseminated
Paternity tracked in relation to male colour

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16
Q

What were the results of testing for cryptic female choice in guppies?

A

Both orange and blue males there was an increase in relative paternity the brighter the colour the guppy was
This is potentially CFC as no males were involved removing mating behaviour and they controlled movement was sperm

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17
Q

What is potentially a reason for why guppies do not undergo cryptic female choice?

A

Do brighter males have better sperm meaning it is male sexual selection not CFC

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18
Q

What are potential opportunities for cryptic female choice?

A

Disrupt/encourage sucessful copulation/ insemination
Differential sperm transport
Differential sperm storage
Differential sperm-egg compatibility
Selective ovulation/oocyte/embryo reabsorption

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19
Q

What are potential oppotunities for cryptic female choice?

A

Complex mating behaviour
Complex female tracts and sperm management
Sperm ejection

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20
Q

What are an example of complex mating behaviours for cryptic female choice?

A

Male fly stratch eyes of females potentially to influence CFC by suggesting high quality but could be sexual reproduction

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21
Q

What are an example of complex female tracts and sperm management influencing for cryptic female choice?

A

Chelmorpha alterans (tortoise beetle). Inserted in bursa then have to travel to the spermatheca which is a long distance away so favours higher quality sperm

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22
Q

What are an example of sperm ejection influencing cryptic female choice?

A

Wild fowl low ranking males had a higher probability of sperm rejected after mating compared to high ranking males which had less probability of sperm rejection

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23
Q

What is a benefit of CFC to increase diversity?

A

Females want enough genetic difference that offspring are diverse eg lots of heterozygosity so they are more likely to survive
Though not so genetically distant that they mate with another species which can led offspring to not survive to birth or be infertile

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24
Q

How did they show CFC preventing incest?

A

Pair female to two different males (crickets) in a sequence, one of which is more compatible but only to her then measure reproductive fitness

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25
Q

What mating pairs did they set up to show CFC on preventing incest in crickets?

A

Female x Brother 1 then Brother 2
Female x Unrelated 1 then unrelated 2
Female x Brother 1 then unrelated 2
Female x Unrelated 1 then brother 2

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26
Q

In crickets what was the difference between proportion of eggs hatching between sib + sib and non + non?

A

Sib + sib hatch proportion was 0.33
Non + non hatch proportion was 0.55

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27
Q

What was the expected proportion of eggs hatched with 1 related and 1 not related male if no CFC?

A

Around 0.45, half of eggs fertilised by each so it will come to be in between the two proportions

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28
Q

What were the results of related + non related breeding pairs with cricket females?

A

Sib then non had a hatch proportion of 0.58
Non then sib had a hatch proportion of 0.51
As both are higher than expected then it shows that there is some CFC

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29
Q

How can female crickets avoid inbreeding?

A

Can be done through sperm storage, promiscuous females avoid inbreeding by having a higher proportion of sperm in spermatheca of non related males
With sperm storage having a direct correlation on ferilisation sucess

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30
Q

What is a conspecific cross with salmon and trout?

A

Salmon sperm x salmon eggs or trout sperm x trout eggs

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31
Q

What is a hybrid heterospecific cross with salmon and trout?

A

Salmon sperm x trout eggs or trout sperm x salmon eggs

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32
Q

How did they show that salmon and trout can cross breed?

A

Both species are external ferilisers so they took eggs and sperm from both and mixed it up. This saw that both trout eggs and salmon eggs had a high chance of being fertilised by trout sperm or salmon sperm

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33
Q

What is the competitive nature of conspecfic and heterospecific cross with trout and salmon sperm and eggs

A

Conspecific sperm are always more competitive with eggs of the same species –> seen in both salmon and trout
Roughly 70% conspecific to 30% heterospecific

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34
Q

How did they test for what decides the preference for conspecific sperm in trout and salmon?

A

Tested whether it was the egg itself that was prefered or the environment eg ovarian fluid

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35
Q

How did they test for the importance of ovarian fluid?

A

Salmon sperm + trout sperm with salmon eggs and salmon ovarian fluid
Salmon sperm + trout sperm with trout eggs and salmon ovarian fluid
Salmon sperm + trout sperm with salmon eggs and trout ovarian fluid
Salmon sperm + trout sperm with trout eggs and salmon ovarian fluid

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36
Q

What was the results of changing the ovarian fluid with the species of egg?

A

Fertilisation was fully dependant of ovarian fluid identity
In salmon ovarian fluid salmon sperm had a higher reproductive success than trout sperm for both species eggs
This was seen but in the reverse with trout sperm doing better in trout ovarian fluid

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37
Q

What impact on does ovarian fluid have on sperm?

A

Ovarian fluid changes sperm behaviour
Sperm in ovarian fluid of species swim in a straighter line compared to in water

38
Q

What is the advantage of this change in behaviour?

A

The straight line movement may allow some to travel down the micropile and fertilise the egg
Some by hit edge of egg
Some can end up back in water and spiral again allowing them to reorient themselves potentially increasing chance that sperm will end up down the micropile

39
Q

How did they test the impact on sperm and ovarian species similarites?

A

They had a permiable membrane that was the same size of micropile then below that was the ovarian fluid. In theory the sperm of same species should be able to swim straight and travel through the permable membrane

40
Q

What was a behaviour shown by salmon and trout sperm?

A

When they were in ovarian fluid of the same species they swan in a straight line
In heterospecific ovarian fluid showed same behaviour as in water

41
Q

What is the principle behind sperm acting different in ovarian fluid?

A

Complete evidence that females can exert CFC at the gamete level and the mechanism involved. Still unknown about how this applies within species

42
Q

When does sexual conflict occur?

A

Sexual conflict arises when the reproductive ‘aims’ of females and males do not unite

43
Q

Why does sexual conflict exist?

A

Divergent potential reproductive rates of males and females
Selection then acts in general:
On males to prioritise mate quantity through competition
On females to prioritise mate quality through choice

44
Q

What are the different types of conflict?

A

Direct conflict
Genetic conflict
Indirect conflict
Intragenomic conflict

45
Q

What is an overview of direct conflict?

A

Occurs when there are too many males wanting with female
Female wants to mate with male that is highest quality whilst males just want to mate with as many females as possible

46
Q

What is an overview of genetic conflict?

A

Less of an emphasise on males being superior but which ever is most compatible with the female eg avoiding inbreeding or heterozygousity in the MHC
Males will still try and mate with female as it is in their best interest but not females

47
Q

What is an overview of indirect conflict?

A

Costs to female from male to male competition
Female mates with male and has children so other males will kill other males children so they can reproduce with the female This can be harmful to male as genetically compatible male may be frequently challenged reducing chance of reproduction occuring

48
Q

What is an intragenomic conflict?

A

Species where you have one genome which is coding for traits that are very, very beneficial to males but not to females this can be seen in anglerfish and banana spider, females are massive but males are tiny and used for reproduction.
The same genome is competing, males and females have genes that code for these traits in autosomal genes. A trait can be passed on that is beneficial for male/female offspring but not the other sex

49
Q

How does sexual conflict vary amogst species?

A

Reproductive potential is more aligned so reduction in conflict due to males and females having more interests aligned can lead to monogamy
Reproductive potential has a large difference this is when male and female interests diverge. This is when promiscuous behaviour and sexual conflict occur, ie females need to protect themselves and males will go to lengths to maximise mating opportunities

50
Q

What are costs of mating?

A

Time
Predation/ abiotic risks
Injury or trauma
Pathogen transmission
Disruption of reproductive pair bonds
Costs arriving from male:male competition adaptations
Costs of paternity

51
Q

What is an overview of time as a cost of mating?

A

Time – wasting: (subtracting from time to forage, oviposit, be efficient etc)
Labitte (1919) recorded a mating lasting 7 days in brimstone butterflies

52
Q

What are examples of mating increasing predation?

A

Copulating / guarding male waterstriders (Gerridae) increase female predation risk and reduce foraging efficiency (Arnqvist 1989)
Butterflies in copula are more vulnerable to predation (Sims 1979)

53
Q

What is an overview of injuries being a cost of mating?

A

7-10% of female mallards drowned by male mating attempts in one population (Huxley 1912)
Female Scatophaga damaged or drowned in dung during mating struggles (Parker 1970)

54
Q

What is an overview of pathogen transmission being a cost of mating?

A

Syphilis transmission associated with multiple mating in humans (Catterall 1981)
Wolbachia bacteria infect huge range of invertebrates (up to 75% of insect species examined) and can generate offspring infertility and cytoplasmic incompatibility in embryos (Hurst et al. 1999)

55
Q

What is an overview of reproductive pair bonds?

A

The more extra pair paternity that occured in birds the more likely the male will dessert the pairing.
An example in the swallow, Hirudo rustica, as number of extra pair matings that occur the less the male will invest in the offspring

56
Q

What is an example of male:male competition giving costs to females in mating?

A

Male Drosophila produce accessory gland products in their seminal fluids which are toxic to female lifespan. The products can cause changes like females laying eggs more quickily or making females less receptive to matings. Females that dont mate live the longest compared to mated females which live much shorter lives. When seminal fluid proteins were not transmitted they lived around the same length as those not mated

57
Q

What is an example of cost of paternity?

A

Risk of infanticide - breeding with one male can mean that another male may kill offspring to increase its fitness

58
Q

How wide spread is infanticide?

A

Analysed 260 mammal species
-119 infanticidal
-141 not infanticidal
More common in group living species eg cats are outliers solitary but regulary engage infanticide

59
Q

What causes sexual conflict to occur?

A

When costs outweigh benefits of sexual reproduction and sexual selection

60
Q

How did they test female and male responses to sexual selection and conflict in Tribolium Castaneum?

A

Bred for 20 generations - male biased high conflict lines (1:9 F:M) and female biased low conflict line (9:1 F:M)
The males or females from line with biased towards sex were exposed to were grouped (1,2,5,10,20)
Allowed to breed for a week, offspring were then left to develop and the number of offspring was recorded

61
Q

What were the results of the Tribolium Castaneum sexual conflict on number of offspring?

A

Males form high male conflict lines - positive correlation between offspring number and number of males
Females from low competitive conflict lines have negative correlation - females evolved without sexual conflict quickily lost their to tolerate it (potentially costly to maintain?)

62
Q

What is an example of male-female co-evolution?

A

Callosobruchus maculatus (cowpea beetle)
Mating causes damage to the female tract
Multi-mating causes more damage
Multi-mating causes reduced female fitness and shortens lifespan
More spiky the male penis is the thicker the female reproductive wall is

63
Q

What is the selection pressure placed on Callosobruchus maculatus?

A

Males are being selected to be more harmful to prevent the female from remating
Females are selected to evolve defenses against the male offenses

64
Q

What are the different outcomes from Callosobruchus maculatus?

A

A-A continuum of balance between male offence and female defence
B are offensive males
C are defensive female
Female cost greater in offensive males > A-A continuum > defensive females

65
Q

Can sexual conflict influence biodiversity?

A

Yes it is an male-female arms race can led to more/faster reproductive isolation in face of allopatric speciation

66
Q

What is an example of male-female coevolutions driving evolution?

A

Copelatus beetles look similar and can only be identified by genetalia - suggests coadaptations are driving evolution of different species
Genatalia are very important for reproduction so even species that look the same are reproductively isolated

67
Q

How did they test for reproductive isolation through sexual conflict?

A

Maintained Sepsis cynipsea - allopatric labotatory populations under no (1:1 M:F), low (25:25 M:F) and high
(250:250 M:F) conflict
Select for 35 generations
Then tested degrees of reproductive isolation between populations compared to within populations

68
Q

What was the outcome for reproductive isolation by sexual selection in Sepsis cynipsea?

A

Monogamy - no conflict - consistant between different groups so no reproductive isolation
Low conflict and high conflict had a much higher pair copulation with within populations compared to between populations - conflict driving reproductive isolation

69
Q

Why is the behaviour of parenting studied?

A

Huge variation between species some giving none whilst some devote years to parenting

70
Q

What are examples of parenting behavior?

A

Pengiun chick rearing
Caecilian skin feeding to children
Mouth brooders

71
Q

Which mating paterns are linked to parental investment?

A

Low male and female parental care –> Promiscuity (plants and animals)
Low male, high femal parental care –> Polygyny (mammals and birds)
High male, low female parental care –> polyandry (birds)
High male, high female –> monogamy (birds)

72
Q

Why do female generally care more about parenting?

A

MORE DIRECT FITNESS RETURN ON INITIAL INVESTMENT
OFTEN GREATER COST OF DESERTION (ANISOGAMY ETC)
HIGHER CONFIDENCE OF GENETIC PARENTAGE

73
Q

What are used to optimise parental investment?

A

OFFSPRING NUMBER?
TYPE OF CARE AND INDIVIDUAL INVESTMENT?
LEVEL AND DURATION OF CARE AND INVESTMENT?

74
Q

How does offspring number impact fitness returns?

A

Great Tit clutch size –> greater clutch size more fitness returns though more eggs reduce the gain per egg then when egg size reached a point fitness decreased

75
Q

What is an example of type of care and individual investment impact fitness returns?

A

4 groups - small carcass, large carcuss, female only and female with male
Helping male burying beetles enhance offspring survival by defending against conspecific carcass theft and cannibalism
Female only 50/50 larvae death, about 12% small, 18% large with male
Little difference in larvae when just females, small carcass male present decreased mass due to reduced food

76
Q

How does mate quality impact individual investment?

A

Captive breeding mallard ducks
N=40 males, 20 supplemented with carotenoids, 20 control
Male bill brightness, hue and colour increased with supplements
Random-paired with females and two clutches assayed
Supplemented males had larger egg mass and more eggs compared to control. The first clutch had larger difference then second clutch due to already large investment

77
Q

What are the future costs of reproduction in plants?

A

Relative reproductive investment in the meadowgrass Poa annua
Heavy investment in year 1 = reduced investment in year 2
(Two different habitat plant strains measured in one common plot)
Negative correlation

78
Q

What are the future costs of reproduction in fish?

A

In St Peter’s fish, PI is flexible
Adults committing PI take >2x longer before future spawning
Both sexes suffer weight reduction (m = 10g f=16g) from care, though males increase (4g) when non-caring and females decrease (1g)

79
Q

What are the future costs of reproduction in birds?

A

European Tits, more eggs produced the less likely the parents are too survive

80
Q

What is an overview of parent-offspring conflict?

A

CONFLICT between optimal PI for the offspring vs parent?
Offspring is 100% related to itself, parent only 50%
Offspring optimum always greater than parent optimum
Paternal and maternal genotypes can be in conflict over PI

81
Q

What is the relationship between the investment between parent and offspring?

A

Parent = maximise benefits to offspring, with minimal cost to self
Offspring, maximise benefits to self and current and potential siblings, with minimal cost to parent.
Parent is fully related to self, so only willing to accept a certain cost. Offspring is 100% related to self, so cost to parent is seen as ½ that as it is from parent’s pov
Offspring have greater demand for investement then what parents give

82
Q

What is an example of parent offspring competition?

A

Cats
As offpring get older they demand a greater level of demand meaning greater cost/benefit for mother therefore mother wants to stop investing before kittens do
As kittens get older, greater amount of avoiding them by going on shelf to reduce investment

83
Q

Why are sex ration invariably evolved at 50:50?

A

If one sex is produced in lower numbers, that sex becomes a rarer mating type in the population
The rarer sex will then enjoy greater reproductive success, compared with the commoner sex
Selection will increasing production of the rarer sex
Biased production of the rarer sex returns the ratio to 50:50

84
Q

What is the Trivere-Willard theory of sex allocation?

A

Because males usually have higher reproductive potential and variance than females, better conditions should favour investment in sons - to enable realisation of that potential

85
Q

What is short-term offspring sex ratio biasing?

A

If large male body size/higher status is an advantage in mate competition, if you’re going to produce a large/ high status offspring, make it a son - which will out-reproduce a daughter (and vice versa)

86
Q

What is the Trivers-Willard effect in mammals?

A

TRIVERS-WILLARD effect elusive in mammals
BUT Red deer on the Isle of Rhum fit the model:
higher socially-ranking hinds produce more sons
High ranking - 60% male
Medium - 56%
Female - 47%
Males reduce overall offspring produced but sons can have greater investment

87
Q

What is an example of sex ratio adjustment?

A

FEMALE SWALLOWS IN BETTER CONDITION PRODUCE MORE MALES and vice versa
Females more likely to have children where as males are less likely but could have greater number

88
Q

How did they show sex ratio adjustment in gulls?

A

Lesser black backed gull
Manipulated maternal condition upward = supplementary feeding
OR downward = extended egg laying by removing eggs
Supplementary feeding (= high maternal condition) maintained near-even sex ratio.
NO supplementary feeding (low maternal condition) generated sex ratio bias towards females AS MATERNAL CONDITION BECAME POORER
No difference in hatching

89
Q

What did they show about investment in lesser black backed gulls?

A

SONS cost more to raise higher male chick mortality as maternal condition deteriorated
SO females should bias investment away from sons as maternal condition deteriorates

90
Q

What are the costs of begging in birds?

A

Greater amount of begging the greater the amount of nest predation

91
Q

How can extra pair patenity impact nest behaviour?

A

Extra pair paternity increases begging loudness
Makes mouth redder so they stand out more for mothers so fed more

92
Q

What is an overview of siblicide in Blue footed boobies?

A

Facultative siblicide in blue-footed boobies: late-hatcher sometimes evicted from nest by rival offspring.
More frequent when food conditions are constrained

Sem 2: Behavioural ecology (11 decks)

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