scholarly journals Despite reproductive interference, the net outcome of reproductive interactions among spider mite species is not necessarily costly

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salomé H. Clemente ◽  
Inês Santos ◽  
Rita Ponce ◽  
Leonor R. Rodrigues ◽  
Susana A. M. Varela ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Spider Mite ◽  
Mite Species ◽  
Reproductive Interference ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Focal Species ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Peer Community ◽  
Mating Sequence

AbstractThis preprint has been reviewed and recommended by Peer Community in Evolutionary Biology (http://dx.doi.org/10.24072/pci.evolbiol.100025). Reproductive interference is considered a strong ecological force, potentially leading to species exclusion. This supposes that the net effect of reproductive interactions is strongly negative for one of the species involved. Testing this requires a comprehensive analysis of interspecific reproductive interactions, accounting for the order and timing of mating events, and for their effects on either fertility or fecundity. To this aim, we measured reproductive interactions between a focal species, Tetranychus urticae, and an invasive (T.evansi) and a resident (T. ludeni) species, varying the mating sequence and interval, and measuring the effect of such crosses on fecundity and offspring sex ratio (a measure of fertility, as these species are haplodiploid). We found that mating with heterospecifics affected fecundity and sex ratio negatively, but also positively, depending on the species involved, and on the order and timing of mating events. Overall, the net effect of reproductive interactions was weak despite strong effects of particular events. In natural situations, the outcome of reproductive interactions will thus hinge upon the frequency of each event.

scholarly journals Transgenerational cues about local mate competition affect offspring sex ratios in the spider mite Tetranychus urticae

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison B. Duncan ◽  
Cassandra Marinosci ◽  
Céline Devaux ◽  
Sophie Lefèvre ◽  
Sara Magalhães ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Tetranychus Urticae ◽  
Sex Allocation ◽  
Spider Mite ◽  
Sex Ratios ◽  
Mate Competition ◽  
Maternal Environment ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Local Mate

ABSTRACTThis preprint has been reviewed and recommended by Peer Community In Evolutionary Biology (https://doi.org/10.24072/pci.evolbiol.100051). In structured populations, competition for mates between closely related males, termed Local Mate Competition (LMC), is expected to select for female-biased offspring sex ratios. However, the cues underlying sex allocation decisions remain poorly studied. Here, we test for several cues in the spider mite Tetranychus urticae, a species that was previously found to adjust the sex ratio of its offspring in response to the number of females within the local population, i.e. a patch. We here investigate whether the offspring sex ratio of T. urticae females changes in response to 1) the current number of females in the same patch, 2) the number of females in the patches of their mothers and 3) their relatedness to their mate. Single females on patches produced similar sex ratios to those of groups of 15 females; their mothers had been in identical conditions of panmixia. The offspring sex ratios of females mated with their brother did not differ from those of females mated with an unrelated male. Females however produced a more female-biased offspring sex ratio if their mothers were alone on a patch compared to 15 other females. Thus, maternal environment is used as a cue for the sex allocation of daughters. We discuss the conditions under which the maternal environment may be a reliable predictor of LMC experienced by grand-sons.

Offspring sex ratio in moose Alces alces in relation to paternal age: an experiment

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernt-Erik Sæther ◽  
Erling J. Solberg ◽  
Morten Heim ◽  
John E. Stacy ◽  
Kjetill S. Jakobsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Alces Alces ◽  
Paternal Age ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Offspring Sex

Breeding system can affect the offspring sex ratio in Syrian hamsters

2011 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
M O M Chelini ◽  
N L Souza ◽  
E Otta
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Breeding System ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Syrian Hamsters ◽  
Offspring Sex

scholarly journals Is biasing offspring sex ratio adaptive? A test of Fisher's principle across multiple generations of a wild mammal in a fluctuating environment

2018 ◽  
Vol 285 (1891) ◽  
pp. 20181251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea E. Wishart ◽  
Cory T. Williams ◽  
Andrew G. McAdam ◽  
Stan Boutin ◽  
Ben Dantzer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Tamiasciurus Hudsonicus ◽  
Red Squirrels ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Adult Sex Ratio ◽  
Secondary Sex Ratio ◽  
North American Red Squirrels ◽  
Negative Frequency Dependent Selection ◽  
Fisher’S Principle

Fisher's principle explains that population sex ratio in sexually reproducing organisms is maintained at 1 : 1 owing to negative frequency-dependent selection, such that individuals of the rare sex realize greater reproductive opportunity than individuals of the more common sex until equilibrium is reached. If biasing offspring sex ratio towards the rare sex is adaptive, individuals that do so should have more grandoffspring. In a wild population of North American red squirrels ( Tamiasciurus hudsonicus ) that experiences fluctuations in resource abundance and population density, we show that overall across 26 years, the secondary sex ratio was 1 : 1; however, stretches of years during which adult sex ratio was biased did not yield offspring sex ratios biased towards the rare sex. Females that had litters biased towards the rare sex did not have more grandoffspring. Critically, the adult sex ratio was not temporally autocorrelated across years, thus the population sex ratio experienced by parents was independent of the population sex ratio experienced by their offspring at their primiparity. Expected fitness benefits of biasing offspring sex ratio may be masked or negated by fluctuating environments across years, which limit the predictive value of the current sex ratio.

Maternal Testosterone and Offspring Sex-Ratio in Birds and Mammals: A Meta-Analysis

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Merkling ◽  
Shinichi Nakagawa ◽  
Malgorzata Lagisz ◽  
Lisa E. Schwanz
Keyword(s):  
Sex Ratio ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Offspring Sex Ratio ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Maternal Testosterone
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