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59 results for “female competition”
Intensive male competition caused severity of trauma in female genital tracts predicts female reproductive success and longevity in strictly monandrous wolf spiders
<p>This is the raw data for the manuscript of Dr. Shichang Zhang from Hubei University entitled: <strong>Intensive male competition caused severity of trauma in female genital tracts predicts female reproductive success and longevity in strictly monandrous wolf spiders. </strong></p>
Data from: The scope and adaptive value of modulating aggression across breeding stages: Case study in a competitive female songbird
<p><span><span>In seasonally breeding animals, costs and benefits of territorial aggression should vary over time; however, little work thus far has directly examined the scope and adaptive value of individual-level plasticity in aggression across breeding stages. We explore these issues using </span><span>the tree swallow (</span></span><em><span><span>Tachycineta bicolor</span></span></em><span><span>), a bird species in which females compete for limited nesting sites</span> <span>before producing a single brood. We measured the aggressiveness of nearly 100 females within three different stages: (1) shortly after territory-establishment, (2) during early incubation, and (3) while caring for young chicks. </span></span><span><span>We used k-means clustering to categorize females into four distinct plasticity 'types' based on the timing, direction, and magnitude of their changes in aggression between stages. We then tested whether plasticity type and stage-specific aggression </span><span>vary</span><span> with </span><span>key</span><span> performance metrics.</span></span><span><span> Two of the four</span> <span>plasticity</span><span> types became less aggressive </span><span>across consecutive breeding stages</span><span>, consistent with population-level patterns, though these plasticity types </span><span>largely </span><span>did not differ from one another in survival or reproductive success</span></span><span><span>. A third type was characterized by high levels of among-stage plasticity</span><span>; </span><span>these females</span><span>, </span><span>had </span><span>significantly </span><span>lower body mass while parenting, </span><span>tended to hatch fewer eggs,</span> <span>and </span><span>had the lowest observed </span><span>overwinter survival </span><span>rates</span><span>. </span><span>A final type exhibited </span><span>limited</span><span> plasticity, with moderate to low levels of aggression </span><span>in all stages; </span><span>this low plasticity </span><span>-</span><span> low aggression phenotype</span><span> was not associated </span><span>with any </span><span>negative</span> <span>effects to </span><span>performance</span><span>.</span> <span>These</span><span> results reveal substantial among-individual variation in behavioral plasticity, which may reflect diverse solutions to trade-offs between current reproduction and future survival.</span></span></p>
Data from: The scope and adaptive value of modulating aggression across breeding stages: Case study in a competitive female songbird
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Data from: Mating competition among females: testing the distinction between natural and sexual selection in an insect
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How female × male and male × male interactions influence competitive fertilization in Drosophila melanogaster
How males and females contribute to joint reproductive success has been a long-standing question in sexual selection. Under postcopulatory sexual selection (PSS), paternity success is predicted to derive from complex interactions among females engaging in cryptic female choice and males engaging in sperm competition. Such interactions have been identified as potential sources of genetic variation in sexually selected traits but are also expected to inhibit trait diversification. To date, studies of interactions between females and competing males have focused almost exclusively on genotypes and not phenotypic variation in sexually selected traits. Here, we characterize within- and between-sex interactions in Drosophila melanogaster using isogenic lines with heritable variation in both male and female traits known to influence competitive fertilization. We confirmed, and expanded on, previously reported genotypic interactions within and between the sexes, and showed that several reproductive events, including sperm transfer, female sperm ejection and sperm storage, were explained by two- and three-way interactions among sex-specific phenotypes. We also documented complex interactions between the lengths of competing males' sperm and the female seminal receptacle, which are known to have experienced rapid female-male co-diversification. Our results highlight the non-independence of sperm competition and cryptic female choice and demonstrate that complex interactions between the sexes do not limit the ability of multivariate systems to respond to directional sexual selection.
Experimentally induced intrasexual mating competition and sex-specific evolution in female and male nematodes
Sexual dimorphism in life history traits and their trade-offs is widespread among sexually reproducing animals, and is strongly influenced by the differences in reproductive strategies between the sexes. We investigated how intrasexual competition (pre- and postcopulatory) acted on specific life history traits, important to fitness, and their trade-offs in the outcrossing nematode Caenorhabditis remanei. Here, we imposed strong sex-specific selection through experimental evolution with increased potential for intrasexual competition by skewing the adult sex ratio towards either males or females (1:10 or 10:1) over 30 generations, and subsequently measured the phenotypic response to selection in three traits related to fitness; body size, fecundity and tolerance to heat stress. We observed a stronger response to selection in females for body size and peak fitness, suggesting that females may experience stronger net selection and potentially harbour higher amounts of standing genetic variance compared to males. Our study highlights the importance of investigating direct and indirect effects of intrasexual competition in both sexes in order to capture sex-specific responses and understand the evolution of sexual dimorphism in traits expressed by both sexes.
Female chacma baboons modulate their sexual receptivity in response to male intrasexual competition
<p>Research in social mammals has revealed the complexity of strategies females use in response to female-female reproductive competition and sexual conflict. One point at which competition and conflict manifest acutely is during sexual receptivity, indicated by swellings in some primates. Whether females can adjust their sexual receptivity from cycle to cycle to decrease reproductive competition and sexual conflict in response to social pressures has not been tested. As a first step, this study explores whether sexual receptivity duration is predicted social pressures in wild female chacma baboons (<em>Papio</em> <em>ursinus</em>). Given that female baboons face intense reproductive competition and sexual coercion, we predicted that: females could shorten the duration of their sexual receptive period to reduce female-female aggression and male coercion or increase it to access multiple or their preferred male(s). We quantified 157 ovulatory cycles from 46 wild females living in central Namibia recorded over 15 years. We found no support for our hypothesis; however, our analyses revealed a negative correlation between maximal-swelling duration and group size, a proxy of within-group competition. This study provides further evidence that swelling is costly as well as a testable framework for future investigations of 'cycle length manipulation'.</p>
Database for "Ecological perspectives on female and male reproductive success with competition in two Serapias species" Annals of Botany 2024
<p>Public data from the paper: Ecological perspectives on female and male reproductive success with competition in two Serapias species by J. Borràs, J. Cursach, C. Herrera, S. Perelló-Suau and M. Capó published in Annals of Botany 2024. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/aob/mcae074">DOI: 10.1093/aob/mcae074</a></p>
Testing hormonal responses to real and simulated social challenges in a competitive female bird
<p>Competitive interactions often occur in series; therefore animals may respond to social challenges in ways that prepare them for success in future conflict. Changes in the production of the steroid hormone testosterone (T) are thought to mediate phenotypic responses to competition, but research over the past few decades has yielded mixed results, leading to several potential explanations as to why T does not always elevate following a social challenge. Here, we measured T levels in tree swallows (<i>Tachycineta bicolor</i>), a system in which females compete for limited nesting cavities and female aggression is at least partially mediated by T. We experimentally induced social challenges in two ways: (1) using decoys to simulate territorial intrusions and (2) removing subsets of nesting cavities to increase competition among displaced and territory-holding females. Critically, these experiments occurred pre-laying, when females are physiologically capable of rapidly increasing circulating T levels. However, despite marked aggression in both experiments, T did <i>not</i> elevate following real or simulated social challenges, and in some cases, socially-challenged females had lower T levels than controls. Likewise, the degree of aggression was negatively correlated with T levels following a simulated territorial intrusion. Though not in line with the idea that social challenges prompt T elevation in preparation for future challenges, these patterns nevertheless connect T to territorial aggression in females. Coupled with past work showing that T promotes aggression, these results suggest that T may act rapidly to allow animals to adaptively respond to the urgent demands of a competitive event.</p>
Data for: Fitness costs of female competition linked to resource defence and relatedness of competitors
<p>Female reproductive success is often limited by access to resources and this can lead to social competition both within and between kin groups. Theory predicts that both resource availability and relatedness should influence the fitness consequences of social competition. However, testing key predictions requires differentiating the effects of these two factors. <span>Here we achieve this experimentally by manipulating the social environment of house mice, a facultative communal breeding species with known kin discrimination ability. </span>Our results support the hypothesis that resource defence can be costly for females, potentially trading off against maternal investment. When competition for nest sites was more intense, subjects: 1) were more active during resting phases, 2) responded more strongly to simulated territory intrusions via competitive signalling, and 3) produced smaller weaned offspring. However, we found no evidence that the propensity for kin to cooperate was influenced by relatedness of rivals. Communal breeding between sisters occurred independently of the relatedness of competitors, and costs of competition with non-kin were not mitigated by greater inclusive fitness benefits. Rather, communally breeding sisters weaned fewer offspring when competing with unrelated females, indicating that competition with non-kin is more costly overall. Our findings thus demonstrate that social competition has fitness costs and that associating with kin is beneficial to avoid negative fitness consequences of competing with non-kin, in addition to more widely recognised kin-selected benefits.</p>
Data for: Paternity sharing in insects with female competition for nuptial gifts
<p>Male parental investment is expected to be associated with high confidence of paternity. Studies of species with exclusive male parental care have provided support for this hypothesis because mating typically co-occurs with each oviposition, allowing control over paternity and the allocation of care. However, in systems where males invest by feeding mates (typically arthropods) mating (and thus the investment) is separated from egg-laying, resulting in less control over insemination (as male ejaculates compete with rival sperm stored by females) and a greater risk of investing in unrelated offspring (cuckoldry). As strong selection on males to increase paternity would compromise the fitness of all a female's other mates that make costly nutrient contributions, paternity sharing (males not excluded from siring offspring) is an expected outcome of sperm competition. Using wild-caught females in an orthopteran and a dipteran species, in which sexually selected, ornamented females compete for male nuptial food gifts needed for successful reproduction, we examined paternity patterns and compared them to findings in other insects. We used microsatellite analysis of offspring (lifetime reproduction in the orthopteran) and stored sperm from wild-caught females in both study species, and as predicted there was evidence of shared paternity as few males failed to sire offspring. Further support for paternity-sharing is the lack of last-male sperm precedence in our study species. Although paternity was not equal among sires, our estimates of paternity bias were similar to other insects with valuable nuptial gifts and contrasted with the finding that males are frequently excluded from siring offspring in species where males supply little more than sperm. This suggests paternity bias may be reduced in nuptial-gift systems and may help facilitate the evolution of these paternal investments.</p>
Social rank, female competition for food, and behavioural time-budgets in a temperate primate multi-level society
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Testing hormonal responses to real and simulated social challenges in a competitive female bird
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Data for: Fitness costs of female competition linked to resource defence and relatedness of competitors
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Data for: Paternity sharing in insects with female competition for nuptial gifts
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Female chacma baboons modulate their sexual receptivity in response to male intrasexual competition
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Data from: Differential introgression of a female competitive trait in a hybrid zone between sex-role reversed species
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How female × male and male × male interactions influence competitive fertilization in Drosophila melanogaster
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Experimentally induced intrasexual mating competition and sex-specific evolution in female and male nematodes
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Data from: Female reproductive competition in Eulemur rufifrons: eviction and reproductive restraint in a plurally breeding Malagasy primate
In mammals with female philopatry, co-resident females inevitably compete with each other for resources or reproductive opportunities, thereby reducing the kin-selected benefits of altruism towards relatives. These counteracting forces of cooperation and competition among kin should be particularly pronounced in plurally breeding species with limited alternative breeding opportunities outside the natal group. However, little is still known about the costs of reproductive competition on females' fitness and the victims' potential counter-strategies. Here we summarize long-term behavioral, demographic and genetic data collected on a plurally breeding primate from Madagascar to illuminate mechanisms and effects of female reproductive competition, focusing on forcible eviction and potential reproductive restraint. The main results of our study indicate that females in groups of redfronted lemurs (Eulemur rufifrons) above a critical size suffer from competition from their close relatives: females in larger groups face an increased probability of not giving birth as well as a higher probability of being evicted, especially during the annual mating and birth seasons. Eviction is not predicted by the number of adult females, the number of close female relatives, female age or inter-annual variation in rainfall but only by total group size. Thus, eviction in this species is clearly linked with reproductive competition, it cannot be forestalled by reproductive restraint or having many relatives in the group, and it occurs in the absence of a clear dominance hierarchy. Our study therefore also underscores the notion that potential inclusive fitness benefits from living with relatives may have been generally over-rated and should not be taken for granted.
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