Leave me alone : solitary females attract more mates in a nocturnal insect
Lehtonen, Topi K.; Kaitala, Arja (2020-05-20)
Topi K Lehtonen, Arja Kaitala, Leave me alone: solitary females attract more mates in a nocturnal insect, Behavioral Ecology, Volume 31, Issue 4, July/August 2020, Pages 1040–1045, https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/araa049
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Behavioral Ecology following peer review. The version of record Topi K Lehtonen, Arja Kaitala, Leave me alone: solitary females attract more mates in a nocturnal insect, Behavioral Ecology, Volume 31, Issue 4, July/August 2020, Pages 1040–1045 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/araa049.
https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2020081961118
Tiivistelmä
Abstract
Spatial distributions of sexual competitors and potential mating partners have a large impact on sexual selection and mating systems. Typically, such effects are investigated with regard to male aggregations. However, females may also need to compete for mating opportunities. Here, we investigated the consequences of clustering and rival attractiveness on female mate attraction success under field conditions in a nocturnal beetle, the common glowworm, Lampyrus noctiluca. We placed dummy females of two glow intensity (attractiveness) levels either alone or in clusters of varying attractiveness compositions. We found that, by displaying alone rather than in a cluster, females have a higher probability of mating and greater potential to exercise mate choice. Within clusters, females of both attractiveness levels had the highest probability of mating when having neighbors of only the less attractive type. These results show that both the presence and attractiveness of rivals can strongly influence females’ mate attraction. The findings also suggest that the typical distribution of glowing females in the wild is better explained by female than male benefits. Hence, the results highlight the important links between spatial distribution of females, male mate searching, and sexual selection.
Kokoelmat
- Avoin saatavuus [31995]