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opencc-by-4.0Jan 2020View details →

High MHC gene copy number maintains diversity despite homozygosity in a Critically Endangered single-island endemic bird, but no evidence of MHC-based mate choice

Raw sequence data from two amplicon libraries of MHC class I exon 3 of Raso Lark Alauda razae, sequenced on an Illumina Miseq. The two different libraries (two different Illumina runs) are collected in separat tar archive (.tar). Within each of those are individual sequence reads as gzipped fastq files (.fastq.gz). Each sample has two files, one for read 1 (R1) and one for read 2 (R2), with file names structured as follows. Delimited by underscore (_) are: <ol> <li>sample name as referred to in the data and paper (“RingNo” in the Supporting data table);</li> <li>formal ID (also referred to in data table, often corresponding to full ring number);</li> <li>Illumina sample number (i.e. based on the order that samples are listed in the sample sheet);</li> <li>Illumina lane number (static as L001, as Miseq instruments have a single lane on their flow cells);</li> <li>read number (R1 [forward] or R2 [reverse]);</li> <li>static identifier from Illumina (001).</li> </ol> Thus, the file 83304_TJ83304_S163_L001_R2_001.fastq.gz is the reverse (read 2) MHC class I exon 3 sequence of individual 83304 (ring number TJ83304).

opencc-by-4.0Aug 2015View details →

Figure 1. A in The green June beetle (Cotinis nitida) (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae): local variation in the beetle's major avian predators and in the competition for mates

Figure 1. A stack of males piled up on the back of a receptive female. Note that the top male is facing in a different direction from the others and that he has everted his aedeagus, a sign of his strong sexual motivation.

opencc-zeroDec 2019View details →

Data from: An analysis of mating biases in trees

Assortative mating is a deviation from random mating based on phenotypic similarity. As it is much better studied in animals than in plants, we investigate for trees whether kinship of realized mating pairs deviates from what is expected from the set of potential mates and use this information to infer mating biases that may result from kin recognition and/or assortative mating. Our analysis covers twenty species of trees for which microsatellite data is available for adult populations (potential mates) as well as seed arrays. We test whether mean relatedness of observed mating pairs deviates from null expectations that only take pollen dispersal distances into account (estimated from the same dataset). This allows to identify elevated as well as reduced kinship among realized mating pairs, indicative of positive and negative assortative mating, respectively. The test is also able to distinguish elevated biparental inbreeding that occurs solely as a result of related pairs growing closer to each other from further assortativeness. Assortative mating in trees appears potentially common but not ubiquitous: nine data sets show mating bias with elevated inbreeding, nine do not deviate significantly from the null expectation, and two show mating bias with reduced inbreeding. While our datasets lack direct information on phenology, our investigation of the phenological literature for each species identifies flowering phenology as a potential driver of positive assortative mating (leading to elevated inbreeding) in trees. Since active kin recognition provides an alternative hypothesis for these patterns, we encourage further investigations on the processes and traits that influence mating patterns in trees.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

Data from: Differential gene expression in relation to mating system in Peromyscine rodents

Behaviors that increase an individual's exposure to pathogens are expected to have important effects on immunoactivity. Because sexual reproduction typically requires close contact among conspecifics, mating systems provide an ideal opportunity to study the immunogenetic correlates of behaviors with high versus low risks of pathogen exposure. Despite logical links between polygynandrous mating behavior, increased pathogen exposure, and greater immunoactivity, these relationships have seldom been examined in nonhuman vertebrates. To explore interactions among these variables in a different lineage of mammals, we used RNAseq to study the gene expression profiles of liver tissue—a highly immunoactive organ—from sympatric populations of the monogamous California mouse (Peromyscus californicus) and two polygynandrous congeners (P. maniculatus and P. boylii). Differential expression and co‐expression analyses revealed distinct patterns of gene activity among species, with much of this variation associated with differences in mating system. This tendency was particularly pronounced for MHC genes, with multiple MHC Class I genes being upregulated in the two polygynandrous species, as expected if exposure to sexually transmitted pathogens varies with mating system. Our results underscore the role of mating behavior in influencing patterns of gene expression and highlight the use of emerging transcriptomic tools in behavioral studies of free‐living animals.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

FIGURE 1 in Redescription, distribution and mating call of Pristimantis colomai (Lynch and Duellman, 1997) (Anura, Craugastoridae)

FIGURE 1. Dorsal and ventral view of (A) adult male UVC 7195 and (B) adult female UVC 5859 (scale bar = 5 mm) of Pristimantis colomai; (C) mating call showing the oscilogram (above), spectrogram (below), and power spectrum; and (D) geographic distribution showing the type locality (black star), historical records (white dots), and new records reported in this study (red dots).

opencc-by-4.0Oct 2023View details →

Data sets and R codes for "It's about her: male within-season movements are related to mate searching in a songbird"

AbstractIn species with resource-defense mating systems (such as most temperate-breeding songbirds), male dispersal is often considered to be limited in both frequency and spatial extent. When dispersal occurs within a breeding season, the favored explanation is ecological resource tracking. In contrast, movements of male birds associated with temporary emigration, such as polyterritoriality (i.e., defense of an additional location after attracting a female in the initial territory), are usually attributed to mate searching. We suggest that male dispersal and polyterritoriality are functionally related, and that mate searching may be a unifying hypothesis for predicting the within-season movements of male songbirds. Here, we test three key predictions derived from this hypothesis in Wood Warblers Phylloscopus sibilatrix. We collected data on the spatial behavior of 107 males between 2017 and 2019, and related male movements to a new territory (both in a dispersal and polyterritorial context) to mating potential in the current territory. Most males dispersed from their territories within days or weeks after failing to attract a female, despite occupying territories in apparently suitable habitat. Probability of polyterritoriality by paired males increased after the peak fertile period of their mate. Males never dispersed following nest predation if the female remained to renest. Thus, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that both movement types are functionally related to mate searching.

opencc-zeroNov 2023View details →

Collective synchrony of mating signals modulated by ecological cues and social signals in bioluminescent sea fireflies

Individuals often employ simple rules that can emergently synchronise behaviour. Some collective behaviours are intuitively beneficial, but others like mate signalling in leks occur across taxa despite theoretical individual costs. Whether disparate instances of synchronous signalling are similarly organised is unknown, largely due to challenges observing many individuals simultaneously. Recording field collectives and ex situ playback experiments, we describe principles of synchronous bioluminescent signals produced by marine ostracods (Crustacea; Luxorina) that seem behaviorally convergent with terrestrial fireflies, and with whom they last shared a common ancestor over 500 mya. Like synchronous fireflies, groups of signalling males use visual cues (intensity and duration of light) to decide when to signal. Individual ostracods also modulate their signal based on the distance to nearest neighbours. During peak darkness, luminescent "waves" of synchronous displays emerge and ripple across the sea floor every ~60 seconds, but such periodicity decays within and between nights after the full moon. Our data reveal these bioluminescent aggregations are sensitive to both ecological and social light sources. Because the function of collective signals is difficult to dissect, evolutionary convergence, like in the synchronous visual displays of diverse arthropods, provides natural replicates to understand the generalities that produce emergent group behaviour.

opencc-zeroNov 2023View details →

Maternal effects on the advertisement signals and mate preferences of adult offspring in Enchenopa treehoppers (Hemiptera: Membracidae)

We tested for maternal effects on the mating signals and mate preferences of adult offspring in a plant-feeding insect that communicates via plant-borne vibrational signals. We experimentally manipulated an aspect of the social environment experienced by egg-laying mothers: aggregation density. We detected a strong maternal effect in a male signal trait, with sons of mothers that experienced low aggregation density signaling more. We also detected a weak maternal effect on female mate preferences, with daughters of mothers that experienced low aggregation density being less selective. We discuss the evolutionary consequences of these maternal effects in terms of the signal-preference relationship; the maintenance of variation under selection; whether they may be beneficial for offspring; and potential mechanisms that may be involved in their expression.

opencc-zeroNov 2023View details →

Data from: Mating tactic influences body condition loss in Rocky Mountain bighorn rams (Ovis canadensis)

In polygynous mating systems, males often employ alternative mating tactics to enhance reproductive success. In Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep, the primary tactics are coursing, involving mating chases, and tending, involving mate guarding. While both tactics are energetically costly and can diminish body condition, it remains unclear whether the associated costs significantly differ and to what extent. Our study investigated the impact of mating tactics, specifically the proportion of time allocated to each, on body condition loss during the rutting season in bighorn sheep. Using a non-invasive photographic method to estimate body condition loss, we found that the proportion of time a male spent tending significantly correlated with body condition loss. In contrast, the percentage of time spent coursing did not show a significant effect. Age was associated with the choice of tactic, with younger males predominantly coursing, older males primarily tending, and some intermediate-aged males employing both tactics concurrently. Despite the higher energetic costs, our results reveal the flexibility in tactic usage and indicate that tending, while demanding, is a high-cost, high-gain strategy, as tending rams are known to sire more offspring.

opencc-zeroDec 2023View details →

Transgenerational exposure to deoxygenation and warming disrupts mate detection in Gammarus locusta

Ocean deoxygenation and warming have been shown to pose a growing threat to the health of marine organisms and ecosystems. Yet, the potential for acclimation and adaptation remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of transgenerational exposure to reduced oxygen availability and elevated seawater temperature on the chemosensory-dependent mating mechanisms of male amphipods Gammarus locusta. Three subsequent generations were exposed to four experimental treatments for 30 days: i) present-day scenario, ii) warming; iii) deoxygenation; and iv) warming+deoxygenation. After exposure, the number of individuals that reached adulthood was gauged, and adult males from F0 and F1 were subjected to behavioral trials to assess their capacity of long-distance female cue detection through quantification of response time, first direction of movement, activity rate, and proportion of time spent in female scent cues. Ocean-warming-induced mortality and reduced oxygen availability had adverse effects on each of the investigated behavioral traits, which were amplified when combined with elevated temperature. Still, when compared to F0, the F1 generation demonstrated more adaptability (i.e., higher activity rate and preference for female odors) to the combination of the two stressors, suggesting positive carry-over effects. Nevertheless, full recovery to control levels was not observed. Altogether, this study indicates that future scenarios of ocean deoxygenation and warming have the potential to disrupt chemosensory-dependent mate detection in amphipods, but also suggests possible behavioral adaptations. We call for greater research efforts on long-term impacts of ocean change on the behavioral and physiological processes of benthic coastal communities.

opencc-zeroJan 2024View details →

Data from: Mating environments mediate the evolution of behavioral isolation during ecological speciation

The evolution of behavioral isolation is often the first step towards speciation. While past studies show that behavioral isolation will sometimes evolve as a by-product of divergent ecological selection, we lack a more nuanced understanding of factors that may promote or hamper its evolution. The environment in which mating occurs may be important in mediating whether behavioral isolation evolves for two reasons. Ecological speciation could occur as a direct outcome of different sexual interactions being favored in different mating environments. Alternatively, mating environments may vary in the constraint they impose on traits underlying mating interactions, such that populations evolving in a 'constraining' mating environment would be less likely to evolve behavioral isolation than populations evolving in a less constraining mating environment. In the latter, mating environment is not the direct cause of behavioral isolation but rather permits its evolution only if other drivers are present. We test these ideas with a set of 28 experimental fly populations, each of which evolved under one of two mating environments and one of two larval environments. Counter to the prediction of ecological speciation by mating environment, behavioral isolation was not maximal between populations evolved in different mating environments. Nonetheless, mating environment was an important factor as behavioral isolation evolved among populations from one mating environment but not among populations from the other. Though one mating environment was conducive to the evolution of behavioral isolation, it was not sufficient: assortative mating only evolved between populations adapting to different larval environments within that mating environment, indicating a role for ecological speciation. Intriguingly, the mating environment that promoted behavioral isolation is characterized by less sexual conflict compared to the other mating environment. Our results suggest that mating environments plays a key role in mediating ecological speciation via other axes of divergent selection.

opencc-zeroJan 2024View details →

Data from: Effects of past mating behavior versus past ejaculation on male mate choice and male attractiveness

Past reproductive effort allows males to assess their ability to acquire mates, but it also consumes resources that can reduce their future competitive ability. Few studies have examined how a male's reproductive history affects his subsequent mate choice; and, to date, no study has determined the relative contribution of past mating behavior and past ejaculate production because these two forms of investment are naturally highly correlated. Here, we disentangled the relative effects of past mating behavior and past ejaculate production in male mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki) by experimentally preventing some males from ejaculating when trying to mate. We assessed the effect of mating behavior on mate choice by comparing males that had previously been with or without access to females and male rivals for 16 weeks; and assessed the effect of ejaculation on mate choice by comparing males that either could or could not ejaculate when they had access to females for 16 weeks. We compared (1) time females spent with each male, (2) total distance males swam, (3) total time males spent inspecting females, (4) proportion of time males spent with the solitary females in separate models, with age (week 8, week 16) and treatment of reproductive history ("naive male", "mating only male" and "mating and ejaculation males") as fixed factors. We showed that reproductive history did not affect male attractiveness, but it did affect male mate choice. Somewhat surprisingly, in two-choice trials males from all three treatments preferred females in the vicinity of a rival over solitary females. This preference was marginally stronger for males engaging in previous mating behavior but was unaffected by past ejaculate production. This is the first study to quantify the relative influence of pre- and post-copulatory reproductive investment on male mate choice.

opencc-zeroJan 2024View details →

Data from: Male lake char release taurocholic acid as part of a mating pheromone

The evolutionary origins of sexual preferences for chemical signals remain poorly understood, due, in part, to scant information on the molecules involved. In the current study, we identified a male pheromone in lake char (Salvelinus namaycush) to evaluate the hypothesis that it exploits a nonsexual preference for juvenile odour. In anadromous char species, the odour of stream-resident juveniles guides migratory adults into spawning streams. Lake char are also attracted to juvenile odour but have lost the anadromous phenotype and spawn on nearshore reefs, where juvenile odour does not persist long enough to act as a cue for spawning site selection by adults. Previous behavioural data raised the possibility that males release a pheromone that includes components of juvenile odour. Using metabolomics, we found that the most abundant molecule released by males was also released by juveniles but not females. Tandem mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance were used to identify the molecule as taurocholic acid (TCA), which was previously implicated as a component of juvenile odour. Additional chemical analyses revealed that males release TCA at high rates via their urine during the spawning season. Finally, picomolar concentrations of TCA attracted prespawning and spawning females but not males. Taken together, our results indicate male lake char release TCA, a mating pheromone, and support the hypothesis that the pheromone is a partial match of juvenile odour.

opencc-zeroFeb 2024View details →

Data from: Response to MHC-based olfactory cues in a mate choice context in two species of darter (Percidae: Etheostoma)

Mate choice is hypothesized to play an important role in maintaining high diversity at major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes in vertebrates. Many studies have revealed that females across taxa prefer the scent of males with MHC genotypes different to their own. In this study we tested the "opposites-attract" hypothesis in two species of darter with known differences in female criteria used in mate choice: in the fantail darters (a paternal-care species), females prefer males with visual traits related to nest guarding and egg tending, while in rainbow darters (not a paternal-care species) female mate choice criteria are unknown. In dichotomous mate-choice trials, we presented females of both species with the scents of conspecific males with MHC class IIb genotypes that were either similar or dissimilar to that of the focal female. We evaluated the proportion of time each female spent with each male and calculated the average strength of female preference for both species. Female fantail darters demonstrated a preference for the scent of males with similar (rather than dissimilar) MHC genotypes, but this result was not statistically significant. Rainbow darter females showed no preference for the scent of males with similar or dissimilar MHC genotypes. Our results do not support the "opposites-attract" hypothesis in darters.

Figure 6 in Mating and ejaculate allocation pattern in the kelp crab Taliepus dentatus (Decapoda: Epialtidae)

Figure 6. Relationship between percentage of initial vasa deferentia dry weight (VDW) transferred during mating and carapace length of the female in Taliepus dentatus. Adolescent and adult males are indicated by dots and triangles, respectively. Line: linear fit of adolescent crabs (significant regression). Grey area: confidence interval (± 95%) of the fit (R v 3.4).

Figure 4 in Mating and ejaculate allocation pattern in the kelp crab Taliepus dentatus (Decapoda: Epialtidae)

Figure 4. Mating characteristics of Taliepus dentatus of different male ontogenetic stages. (A) Average total duration of copulation of experimental mating pairs (n = 6 pairs per ontogenetic stage). (B) Average ejaculate delivery per female seminal receptacle (n = 6 pairs per ontogenetic stage). P-value is indicated. Values are means + SE (R v 3.4).

Figure 2 in Mating and ejaculate allocation pattern in the kelp crab Taliepus dentatus (Decapoda: Epialtidae)

Figure 2. Box plot of seasonal vasosomatic index (VSI) of Taliepus dentatus from Los Molinos Bay, Chile. Boxes: interquartile range of the data (first quartile, median and third quartile). Whiskers: the values that extend to 1.5 times the interquartile range. Circles: outliers. Letters indicate significant differences (p <0.05) (R v 3.4).

Figure 1 in Mating and ejaculate allocation pattern in the kelp crab Taliepus dentatus (Decapoda: Epialtidae)

Figure 1. Procedures involved in experimental mating in Taliepus dentatus. (A) Dorsal view of opened cephalothorax displaying the male reproductive system. Dissection of paired vasa deferentia after experimental mating. Paired vasa deferentia (vd) and testes (t) are indicated by arrows. Scale bar = 10 mm. (B) During copulation the male (m) was positioned above the female (f) in the sternum-to-sternum position. The opened pleon of the female was visible below the male crab, which is indicated by the arrow (photos: K. Pretterebner, photoshop).

Figure 5 in Mating and ejaculate allocation pattern in the kelp crab Taliepus dentatus (Decapoda: Epialtidae)

Figure 5. Relationship between ejaculate delivered per female seminal receptacle and carapace length of the female in Taliepus dentatus. Adolescent and adult males are indicated by dots and triangles, respectively. Line: linear fit of adolescent males (significant regression). Grey area: confidence interval (± 95 %) of the fit. Data correspond to experimental matings under equal sex ratio (R v 3.4).