Alternative reproductive strategies and the maintenance of female color polymorphism in damselflies
(2017) In Ecology and Evolution 7(15). p.5592-5602- Abstract
Genetic polymorphisms are powerful model systems to study the maintenance of diversity in nature. In some systems, polymorphisms are limited to female coloration; these are thought to have arisen as a consequence of reducing male mating harassment, commonly resulting in negative frequency-dependent selection on female color morphs. One example is the damselfly Ischnura elegans, which shows three female color morphs and strong sexual conflict over mating rates. Here, we present research integrating male tactics, and female evolutionary strategies (female mating behavior and morph-specific female fecundity) in populations with different morph-specific mating frequencies, to obtain an understanding of mating rates in nature that goes... (More)
Genetic polymorphisms are powerful model systems to study the maintenance of diversity in nature. In some systems, polymorphisms are limited to female coloration; these are thought to have arisen as a consequence of reducing male mating harassment, commonly resulting in negative frequency-dependent selection on female color morphs. One example is the damselfly Ischnura elegans, which shows three female color morphs and strong sexual conflict over mating rates. Here, we present research integrating male tactics, and female evolutionary strategies (female mating behavior and morph-specific female fecundity) in populations with different morph-specific mating frequencies, to obtain an understanding of mating rates in nature that goes beyond the mere measure of color frequencies. We found that female morph behavior differed significantly among but not within morphs (i.e., female morph behavior was fixed). In contrast, male tactics were strongly affected by the female morph frequency in the population. Laboratory work comparing morph-specific female fecundity revealed that androchrome females have lower fecundity than both of the gynochrome female morphs in the short term (3-days), but over a 10-day period one of the gynochrome female morphs became more fecund than either of the other morphs. In summary, our study found sex-specific dynamics in response to different morph frequencies and also highlights the importance of studying morph-specific fecundities across different time frames to gain a better understanding of the role of alternative reproductive strategies in the maintenance of female-limited color polymorphism.
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- author
- Sánchez-Guillén, Rosa A. LU ; Wellenreuther, Maren LU ; Chávez-Ríos, Jesús R. ; Beatty, Christopher D. ; Rivas-Torres, Anais ; Velasquez-Velez, María and Cordero Rivera, Adolfo
- organization
- publishing date
- 2017-08
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Behavior, Fecundity, Female-limited color polymorphism, Learned-mate preferences, Sexual conflict
- in
- Ecology and Evolution
- volume
- 7
- issue
- 15
- pages
- 5592 - 5602
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85020927028
- wos:000407485300005
- pmid:28811877
- ISSN
- 2045-7758
- DOI
- 10.1002/ece3.3083
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 1b921a9b-296f-4039-b884-870e7df08c86
- date added to LUP
- 2017-07-05 09:41:46
- date last changed
- 2024-02-29 17:59:13
@article{1b921a9b-296f-4039-b884-870e7df08c86,
abstract = {{<p>Genetic polymorphisms are powerful model systems to study the maintenance of diversity in nature. In some systems, polymorphisms are limited to female coloration; these are thought to have arisen as a consequence of reducing male mating harassment, commonly resulting in negative frequency-dependent selection on female color morphs. One example is the damselfly Ischnura elegans, which shows three female color morphs and strong sexual conflict over mating rates. Here, we present research integrating male tactics, and female evolutionary strategies (female mating behavior and morph-specific female fecundity) in populations with different morph-specific mating frequencies, to obtain an understanding of mating rates in nature that goes beyond the mere measure of color frequencies. We found that female morph behavior differed significantly among but not within morphs (i.e., female morph behavior was fixed). In contrast, male tactics were strongly affected by the female morph frequency in the population. Laboratory work comparing morph-specific female fecundity revealed that androchrome females have lower fecundity than both of the gynochrome female morphs in the short term (3-days), but over a 10-day period one of the gynochrome female morphs became more fecund than either of the other morphs. In summary, our study found sex-specific dynamics in response to different morph frequencies and also highlights the importance of studying morph-specific fecundities across different time frames to gain a better understanding of the role of alternative reproductive strategies in the maintenance of female-limited color polymorphism.</p>}},
author = {{Sánchez-Guillén, Rosa A. and Wellenreuther, Maren and Chávez-Ríos, Jesús R. and Beatty, Christopher D. and Rivas-Torres, Anais and Velasquez-Velez, María and Cordero Rivera, Adolfo}},
issn = {{2045-7758}},
keywords = {{Behavior; Fecundity; Female-limited color polymorphism; Learned-mate preferences; Sexual conflict}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{15}},
pages = {{5592--5602}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Ecology and Evolution}},
title = {{Alternative reproductive strategies and the maintenance of female color polymorphism in damselflies}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3083}},
doi = {{10.1002/ece3.3083}},
volume = {{7}},
year = {{2017}},
}