Authors: Diana PerezStaples Martín Aluja Rogelio MacíasOrdóñez John Sivinski
Publish Date: 2008/03/05
Volume: 62, Issue: 8, Pages: 1333-1340
Abstract
In lekking species females may become spermlimited when mating with sexually successful males and this may be exacerbated by a poor male diet Polygynous males may also be limited by the amount of accessory gland products AGPs they can transmit to females which in turn may influence the females’ refractory period and longevity Here we tested the effect of male mating history larval and adult diet on copula duration mating intervals female fecundity fertilisation success life span and likelihood to remate using sexually successful males of the lekking tephritid fly Anastrepha obliqua Flies originated from either a native or exotic host fruit and were proteinfed or deprived Male diet and larval host influenced copula duration while the time elapsed between matings was affected by the interaction of mating order and male adult diet Female fecundity was not influenced by female position in mating order or protein inclusion into the male diet However mating order and male larval diet influenced female fertilisation success Importantly as males mated successively they were less able to induce a refractory period on females as the last females to mate with a male were more likely to remate and had slightly longer life spans than the first females to mate with males These results might be attributed to a decrease in male AGPs with increasing male mating frequency We discuss the role of conditional expression of male mating frequency with respect to A obliqua’s life history the tradeoff that females face when mating with a successful male the effect of larval diet on adult sexual performance and the possibility for sexual conflict to occur due to high male mating rates and fitness costs to femalesWe sincerely thank six anonymous referees and two associate editors for many insightful comments and suggestions for improvement We are also very grateful to Carlos Cordero Instituto de Ecología UNAM for helpful suggestions and discussion throughout the project as well as for comments on the manuscript Melissa Galicia and Lizbeth González provided critical technical assistance throughout the study We thank Francisco DíazFleischer the technicians in Desarrollo de Métodos in the Moscafrut program Tapachula Chiapas Mexico and Martin Pale Instituto de Ecología AC for helping us obtain pupae We also thank Roberto MunguíaSteyer for statistical advice and Larissa Guillén and Nicoletta Righini Instituto de Ecología AC for their general assistance Financial support was provided by the Mexican Campaña Nacional Contra las Moscas de la Fruta Secretaría de Agricultura Ganadería Desarrollo Rural y PescaInstituto Interamericano de Cooperación para la Agricultura and a competitive grant from the Mexican Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología Project CONACYTSEP2004C0146846 This is part of the PhD dissertation of DPS directed by MA and supported by CONACyT through a fellowship to DPS The experiments performed here comply with the current laws of Mexico
Keywords: