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No Detectable Fertility Benefit from a Single Additional Mating in Wild Stalk-Eyed Flies

Harley, E; Fowler, K; Cotton, S; (2010) No Detectable Fertility Benefit from a Single Additional Mating in Wild Stalk-Eyed Flies. PLOS ONE , 5 (12) , Article e14309. 10.1371/journal.pone.0014309. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Multiple mating by female insects is widespread, and the explanation(s) for repeated mating by females has been the subject of much discussion. Females may profit from mating multiply through direct material benefits that increase their own reproductive output, or indirect genetic benefits that increase offspring fitness. One particular direct benefit that has attracted significant attention is that of fertility assurance, as females often need to mate multiply to achieve high fertility. This hypothesis has never been tested in a wild insect population.Methodology/Principal Findings: Female Malaysian stalk-eyed flies (Teleopsis dalmanni) mate repeatedly during their lifetime, and have been shown to be sperm limited under both laboratory and field conditions. Here we ask whether receiving an additional mating alleviates sperm limitation in wild females. In our experiment one group of females received a single additional mating, while a control group received an interrupted, and therefore unsuccessful, mating. Females that received an additional mating did not lay more fertilised eggs in total, nor did they lay proportionately more fertilised eggs. Female fertility declined significantly through time, demonstrating that females were sperm limited. However, receipt of an additional mating did not significantly alter the rate of this decline.Conclusions/Significance: Our data suggest that the fertility consequences of a single additional mating were small. We discuss this effect (or lack thereof), and suggest that it is likely to be attributed to small ejaculate size, a high proportion of failed copulations, and the presence of X-linked meiotic drive in this species.

Type: Article
Title: No Detectable Fertility Benefit from a Single Additional Mating in Wild Stalk-Eyed Flies
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0014309
Language: English
Additional information: © 2010 Harley et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This work was funded by a UK Natural Environment Research Council Post-doctoral Fellowship to S.C. (NE/E012620/1). E.H. is supported by a UK Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council Studentship. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Keywords: FLY CYRTODIOPSIS-DALMANNI, POSTCOPULATORY INBREEDING AVOIDANCE, CRICKET GRYLLUS-BIMACULATUS, CHROMOSOME MEIOTIC DRIVE, MATE CHOICE, ARTIFICIAL SELECTION, CORRELATED RESPONSES, OFFSPRING VIABILITY, SEXUAL-DIMORPHISM, SPERM SELECTION
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences > Genetics, Evolution and Environment
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/703146
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