THE REPRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR AND THE NATURE OF SEXUAL SELECTION IN SCATOPHAGA STERCORARIA L. (DIPTERA: SCATOPHAGIDAE). IX. SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF FERTILIZATION RATES AND EVOLUTION OF MALE SEARCH STRATEGY WITHIN THE REPRODUCTIVE AREA

Estimating migration speed of glass eels during their colonization of a Mediterranean lagoon

Migration speed can have important evolutionary consequences as it can affect the timing of arrival, remaining energy reserves, and habitat choice. Environmental conditions and individual phenotypic traits can impact the migration speed of individuals. In this way, estimating migration speed is of particular importance, especially for species under strong management strategies and colonizing highly diversified habitats, as is the case for the European eel. However, estimating the migration speed of glass eels, which is the life stage when eels colonize continental habitats, presents challenges due to typically low re-capture probabilities and difficulties in tagging individuals. Using recruitment time series at two sites, one at the sea connection and another inland, we estimated the temporal lag between the two migration peaks to compute migration speed. Because we worked on the Mediterranean coasts and in a lagoon, the weak tidal amplitudes may inhibit individuals from efficiently performing the selective tidal stream transport. We obtained migration speed values coherent with the few values available in the literature for Atlantic estuaries. The values we obtained that are lower than those obtained for Atlantic estuaries are also coherent with the weak tides along the Mediterranean coasts and lead to necessary further studies to understand the migratory behavior of glass eels in such hydro-systems.

How Soon Hath Time… A History of Two "Seminal" Publications

This review documents the history of the two papers written half a century ago that relate to this special issue of Cells. The first, “Sperm competition and its evolutionary consequences in the insects” (Biological Reviews, 1970), stressed that sexual selection continues after ejaculation, resulting in many adaptations (e.g., postcopulatory guarding phases, copulatory plugs, seminal fluid components that modify female reproduction, and optimal ejaculation strategies), an aspect not considered by Darwin in his classic treatise of 1871. Sperm competition has subsequently been studied in many taxa, and post-copulatory sexual selection is now considered an important sequel to Darwinian pre-copulatory sexual selection. The second, “The origin and evolution of gamete dimorphism and the male-female phenomenon” (Journal of Theoretical Biology, 1972) showed how selection, based on gamete competition between individuals, can give rise to anisogamy in an isogamous broadcast spawning ancestor. This theory, which has subsequently been developed in various ways, is argued to form the most powerful explanation of why there are two sexes in most multicellular organisms. Together, the two papers have influenced our general understanding of the evolutionary differentiation of the two forms of gametic cells, and the divergence of sexual strategies between males and females under sexual selection.

Evolutionary insight from a humble fly: sperm competition and the yellow dungfly

Studies of the yellow dungfly in the 1960s provided one of the first quantitative demonstrations of the costs and benefits associated with male and female reproductive behaviour. These studies advanced appreciation of sexual selection as a significant evolutionary mechanism and contributed to the 1970s paradigm shift toward individual selectionist thinking. Three behaviours in particular led to the realization that sexual selection can continue during and after mating: (i) female receptivity to remating, (ii) sperm displacement and (iii) post-copulatory mate guarding. These behaviours either generate, or are adaptations to sperm competition, cryptic female choice and sexual conflict. Here we review this body of work, and its contribution to the development of post-copulatory sexual selection theory. This article is part of the theme issue 'Fifty years of sperm competition'.

Risk-taking behaviour may explain high predation mortality of GH-transgenic common carp Cyprinus carpio

The competitive ability and habitat selection of juvenile all-fish GH-transgenic common carp Cyprinus carpio and their size-matched non-transgenic conspecifics, in the absence and presence of predation risk, under different food distributions, were compared. Unequal-competitor ideal-free-distribution analysis showed that a larger proportion of transgenic C. carpio fed within the system, although they were not overrepresented at a higher-quantity food source. Moreover, the analysis showed that transgenic C. carpio maintained a faster growth rate, and were more willing to risk exposure to a predator when foraging, thereby supporting the hypothesis that predation selects against maximal growth rates by removing individuals that display increased foraging effort. Without compensatory behaviours that could mitigate the effects of predation risk, the escaped or released transgenic C. carpio with high-gain and high-risk performance would grow well but probably suffer high predation mortality in nature.

Size-dependent alternative male mating tactics in the yellow dung fly, Scathophaga stercoraria

Whenever males can monopolize females and/or resources used by females, the opportunity for sexual selection will be great. The greater the variation among males in reproductive success, the greater the intensity of selection on less competitive males to gain matings through alternative tactics. In the yellow dung fly, Scathophaga stercoraria, males aggressively compete for access to receptive, gravid females on fresh dung. Larger males are better able to acquire mates and to complete copulation successfully and guard the female throughout oviposition. Here we demonstrate that when an alternative resource is present where females aggregate (i.e. apple pomace, where both sexes come to feed), smaller males will redirect their searching for females from dung to the new substrate. In addition, we identify a class of particularly small males on the alternative substrate that appears never to be present searching for females on or around dung. Smaller males were found to have a mating 'advantage' on pomace, in striking contrast to the pattern observed on dung, providing further support for the existence of an alternative male reproductive tactic in this species.

Developing methods to assess and predict the population level effects of environmental contaminants

The field of ecological toxicity seems largely to have drifted away from what its title implies--assessing and predicting the ecological consequences of environmental contaminants--moving instead toward an emphasis on individual effects and physiologic case studies. This paper elucidates how a relatively new ecological methodology, interaction assessment (INTASS), could be useful in addressing the field's initial goals. Specifically, INTASS is a model platform and methodology, applicable across a broad array of taxa and habitat types, that can be used to construct population dynamics models from field data. Information on environmental contaminants and multiple stressors can be incorporated into these models in a form that bypasses the problems inherent in assessing uptake, chemical interactions in the environment, and synergistic effects in the organism. INTASS can, therefore, be used to evaluate the effects of contaminants and other stressors at the population level and to predict how changes in stressor levels or composition of contaminant mixtures, as well as various mitigation measures, might affect population dynamics.

Foraging behaviour in tadpoles of the bronze frog Rana temporalis: experimental evidence for the ideal free distribution

The ability of bronze frog Rana temporalis tadpoles (pure or mixed parental lines) to assess the profitability of food habitats and distribute themselves accordingly was tested experimentally using a rectangular choice tank with a non- continuous input design. Food (boiled spinach) was placed at two opposite ends of the choice tank in a desired ratio (1 : 1, 1 : 2 or 1 : 4) to create habitat A and B. The tadpoles in Gosner stage 28-33, pre-starved for 24 h, were introduced in an open ended mesh cylinder placed in the center of the choice tank, held for 4 min (for acclimation) and then released to allow free movement and habitat selection. The number of tadpoles foraging at each habitat was recorded at 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 min time intervals. The actual suitability, Si (the food available in a habitat after colonization of tadpoles) of each habitat was obtained from the equation Si = Bi - fi (di) where Bi is basic suitability (amount of food provided at each habitat before release of tadpoles), fi is the rate of depletion of food (lowering effect) with introduction of each tadpole, and di is the density of tadpoles in habitat i. The expected number of tadpoles at each habitat was derived from the actual suitability. With no food in the choice tank, movement of the tadpoles in the test arena was random indicating no bias towards any end of the choice tank or the procedure. In tests with a 1 : 1 food ratio, the observed ratio of tadpoles (11.71 : 12.28) was comparable with the expected 12 : 12 ratio. The observed number of tadpoles in the habitats with a 1 : 2 food ratio was 8.71 : 15.29 and 7.87 : 16.13 for pure and mixed parental lines respectively. In both cases, the observed ratios were close to the expected values (7 : 17). Likewise, in experiments with a 1 : 4 food ratio, the observed number of tadpoles in the two habitats (10.78 : 37.22) did not differ significantly from the expected ratio of 7 : 41. In all tests, the number of R. temporalis tadpoles matched ideally with habitat profitability (undermatching index K approximate, equals 1). The study shows that tadpoles of the bronze frog exhibit an ideal free distribution while foraging regardless of whether they are siblings or non-siblings in a group, which correlates well with their group living strategy in nature

Coalition formation in animals and the nature of winner and loser effects

Coalition formation has been documented in a diverse array of taxa, yet there has been little formal analysis of polyadic interactions such as coalitions. Here, we develop an optimality model which examines the role of winner and loser effects in shaping coalition formation. We demonstrate that the predicted patterns of alliances are strongly dependent on the way in which winner and loser effects change with contestant strength. When winner and loser effects decrease with the resource-holding power (RHP) of the combatants, coalitions will be favoured between the strongest members of a group, but not between the weakest. If, in contrast, winner and loser effects increase with RHP, exactly the opposite predictions emerge. All other things being equal, intervention is more likely to prove worthwhile when the beneficiary of the aid is weaker (and its opponent is stronger), because the beneficiary is then less likely to win without help. Consequently, intervention is more probable when the impact of victory on the subsequent performance of a combatant increases with that individual's strength because this selects for intervention in favour of weaker combatants. The published literature on hierarchy formation does not reveal how winner and loser effects actually change with contestant strength and we therefore hope that our model will spur others to collect such data; in this light we suggest an experiment which will help to elucidate the nature of winner and loser effects and their impact on coalition formation in animals.

Selfish genes, evolutionary games, and the adaptiveness of behaviour

The science of sociobiology, which began in principle with the work of Fisher and Haldane and has more recently been developed by Hamilton, Maynard Smith, Trivers, Wilson and others, has been the centre of both scientific and political controversy. Dr Parker discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the approach, and illustrates that behaviour can be adapted in a complex way in conformity with sociobiological theory.