Friberg, U. 2006. Male perception of female mating status: its effect on copulation duration and male and female fitness in Drosophila melanogaster. Anim. Behav. 72:1256-1268.

In this study, Friberg justifies the idea that the risk of sperm competition in male Drosophila melanogaster is highly influenced by female mating status. Males can assess female mating status by inspecting the female cuticular hydrocarbon (CH) profile, which changes when females mate. Friberg tests this by manipulating female CHs by transferring from either virgin or mated females to virgin females. The results show that males copulated significantly longer with virgin females that had been coated with CHs from mated females compared to virgin females who had been coated with CHs from other virgin females. In addition, Friberg found that male sperm defense is elevated when males perceive their partner as mated. This study proves to be important to future studies in female mate choice examining the social experiences and housing experiences of mated and nonmated females. More specifically, if virgin females housed with mated females have different male preferences than virgins housed together.

Friberg, U. & Arnqvist, G. 2003. Fitness effects of female mate choice: preferred males are detrimental for Drosophila melanogaster females. J. Evol. Biol. 16: 797-811.

The authors investigated female fitness and how it is affected by reproducing with large or small males, using two different male densities and male size as a proxy for male attractiveness. The results indicated that females housed with large males had reduced lifespans and aged at an accelerated rate compared with females housed with small males. In addition, increased male density depressed female fitness even further. The authors suggest that female mate choice in Drosophila melanogaster is, in part, a by-product of sexual conflict over the mating rate. This study is relevant to my research as it involves determining size differences in males by thorax length, something which I may use as the variable for female choice. The study also contains relevant information regarding female mate choice as a function of male size and if this is correlated with direct benefits, indirect benefits, and female fitness

Cook, R. & Cook, A. The attractiveness to males of female Drosophila melanogaster: Effects of mating, age and diet. Anim. Behav. 23: 521-526.

The authors studied the attractiveness of female Drosophila melanogaster to males using decapitated females, because decapitated females show minimal behavioural response. Decapitated females, which will survive for many hours, provide a relatively constant stimulus to the male, since she remains stationary. Such females do not extrude their genitalia in response to courtship. The results show that the attractiveness of virgin females varied with age, being at a maximum on the day of eclosion, and declining after. Even though decapitated inseminated females do not extrude their genitalia they received less courtship than decapitated virgin females. The authors also examined the effect of protein vs. sucrose diets on the attractiveness of females. A sucrose diet was found to render both virgin and inseminated decapitated female more attractive to males. This study presents relevant information on courtship and female receptivity to males based on mating status, which is useful for my research.

Aigaki, T. & Ohba, S. Effect of mating status on Drosophila virilis lifespan. Exp. Gerontol. 4:267-278.

Aigaki and Ohba studdeid the effect of mating status on Drosophila virilis by looking at the lifespan of virgin males and females, population density, and sex ratio. In addition, the authors examined lifetime egg production between virgin and nonvirgin females. The effect of virginity on lifespan was different between the sexes. In all cases lengthening of female lifespan and shortening of male lifespan was observed as an effect of virginity. At a high sex ratio, females and males have similar mean lifespans. At a low ratio, mean female and mean male lifespans were insignificantly insignificant. Lifetime egg production for a mated female was found to be greater than for a virgin female. This study is relevant to my research on mating status of nonvirgin and virgin females and how social experience and mating history affects courtship, copulation, and fecundity.

My annotated bibliography so far...

Cotton, S., Fowler, K., and Pomiankowski, A. 2004. Do sexual ornaments demonstrate heightened condition-dependent expression as predicted by the handicap hypothesis? Proceedings: The Royal Society 271:771-783. Doi: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2688

The authors of this review made a compilation of 65 experiments carried out by other scientists and analyzed each of their methods to determine if their results are viable. Ultimately, many of these results claimed that sexual ornaments are condition-dependent; however, there were few well-designed experiments. They say there are three aspects that must be included in the experimental procedure of future studies focusing on the condition-dependence of male sexual ornaments. These include making a comparison of the traits (comparing sexual vs non-sexual traits), controlling for the effect of body size, and experimentally manipulating the condition to suite what would be encountered in the natural environment (not only having two extremes). This review is very applicable to any individual formulating an experiment proposal; it highlights which aspects of the procedure are often overlooked, and those that can create doubt in the results if not manipulated properly.

Cotton, S., Small, J., and Pomiankowski, A. 2006. Sexual selection and condition-dependent mate preferences. Current Biology 16:R755-R765. Doi 10.1016/j.cub.2006.08.022

There is a current hypothesis that female mate preference is condition-dependent; this review provides multiple examples of situations in which this hypothesis is supported. It also proposes that high quality females show the strongest mate preferences. This is thought to be because higher quality females have more to gain from being choosy, and are better able to pay the costs of discrimination. One test suggested in this review that is worth looking into is to determine if there is a positive relationship between female preference and total female fitness.

Hall, J. C. 1994. The mating of a fly. Science 264(5166):1702-1714

The varying kinds of pleiotropic mutations that can occur in courtship genes are investigated in detail in this paper; they can play a role in sensory, learning, and rhythm mutations resulting in defective courtship. Gynandromorph flies, which are chromosomally both female and male, can be turned into all-male flies by making them homozygous for the transformer (tra) mutation. The sex of these gynandromorphs can be manipulated by rearing conditions; XX flies with the tra-2 gene can be reared as a female at low temperatures, but heating the flies at a later life stage can turn off the gene. This is informative because this study makes it clear that these flies can easily be manipulated by their environment.

Hingle, A. Fowler, K., and Pomiankowski, A. 2001. The effect of transient food stress on female mate preference in the stalk-eyed fly Crytodiopsis dalmanni. Proceedings: The Royal Society. Doi: 10.1098/rspb.2001.1647

It is likely that condition is linked to fecundity and body size, which is why it’s not much of a leap to suggest that mate choice may be subject to condition dependence. Stalk-eyed flies were placed under nutritional stress (fed a sucrose diet), which has been shown to reduce egg laying in Drosophila melanogaster. Female stalk-eyed flies that were fed corn (their normal food) showed a preference for large-eyespan males while sucrose-fed females showed a much weaker preference for large-eyespan males. Providing the sucrose-fed females with normal food can reverse the effect of a sucrose diet on female preference. It didn’t matter whether females were fed sucrose then corn, or corn then sucrose, when the females were on the sucrose diet, there was a decrease in their preference. Also, females on a sucrose diet tended to have fewer mature and developing eggs; this is also reversible.

Jennions, M. D., Backwell, P., and Passmore, N. I. 1995. Repeatability of mate choice: the effect of size in the African painted reed frog, Hyperolius marmoratus. Animal Behaviour 49:181-186

This article highlights the fact that differences in between-population female preferences exist; however, little is known about within-population variation. The purpose of this study was to determine repeatability of mate choice in female reed frogs. One of their more interesting discoveries was a correlation between the female preference and body size. They suspect that body size can affect the females’ ability to distinguish between calls of varying frequencies.

Ritchie, M. G. 2000. The inheritance of female preference functions in a mate recognition system. Proceedings: Biological Sciences 267(1441):327-332

This article examines the inheritance of male song and female preference functions in the bush cricket, as well as the role of mate recognition systems. A mate recognition system is made up of the signals and preferences unique to a species that are involved in communication and choice of sexual partners. A female preference function is determined by the frequency with which females chooses a specific trait. The female preference function did not match up with male song in this experiment, suggesting that the preference function could exert directional selection on the male bush crickets.

Ritchie, M. G., Saarikettu, M., Livingstone, S., and Hoikkala, A. 2001. Characterization of female preference functions for Drosophila montana courtship song and a test of the temperature coupling hypothesis. Evolution 55(4):721-727

The way in which environmental conditions affect the consistency of female preference functions is widely unstudied. In this paper, they examine whether ‘temperature coupling’ of male song and female preference occurs in Drosophila montana (ie – is coordination maintained between the male and female aspects of this communication system in a changing environment?). This experiment did not focus on the effects of rearing conditions – all flies were reared at 20°C. It was determined that there was no temperature coupling occurring in this mating system.

Rosvall, K. 2011. Intrasexual competition in females: evidence for sexual selection? Behavioural Ecology. Doi: 10.1093/beheco/arr106

There is currently a debate over whether traits that influence female-female competition are sexually selected. Several hypotheses are presented in this review as to why female-female competition exists and whether it was adaptive or not. Various reasons for the existence of intrasexual competition are laid out and determined to either be sexually selected or a result of natural selection.

my first attempt...

Long, TAF., Pischedda, A., Nichols, RV., & Rice, WR. 2010. The time of mating influences reproductive success in Drosophila melanogaster: implications for sexual conflict. J. Evol. Biol. 23:1024-1032.

This article examines the importance of variation in the timing of mating events in female LRS in the model species Drosophila melanogaster. Specifically, the authors explored how variation in the patterns of single and multiple matings influences female fecundity (and male reproductive success) by looking at virgin flies and non virgin flies and the timing of matings. The results conclude that female mating or remating events could lead to substantial direct fitness benefits, provided the mating occur shortly before the oviposition period. This article is important to research on female mate choice and what affect female preference has on subsequent rematings. Comparing the timing of matings between virgin and nonvirgin females and how this affects fecundity also gives insight to the mechanisms controlling remating patterns in D. Melanogaster.