Skip Navigation


Behavioral Ecology Advance Access first published online on July 31, 2006
This version published online on August 4, 2006
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arl029
This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Lay Summary
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
17/6/940    most recent
arl029v2
arl029v1
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Moya-Laraño, J.
Right arrow Articles by Fox, C. W.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Moya-Laraño, J.
Right arrow Articles by Fox, C. W.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org
Received October 13, 2005
Revised May 26, 2006
Accepted June 30, 2006

Article

Ejaculate size, second male size, and moderate polyandry increase female fecundity in a seed beetle

Jordi Moya-Laraño 1 * and Charles W. Fox 2

1 Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, S-225 Agriculture Science Building-North, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, USA; Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, General Segura, 1, Almería, 04001-Almería, Spain
2 Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, S-225 Agriculture Science Building-North, Lexington, KY 40546-0091, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Jordi Moya-Laraño, E-mail: jordi{at}eeza.csic.es


  Abstract

Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the evolution of polyandry in species that provide nuptial gifts. When nuptial gifts are in the form of nutritional elements in the ejaculate and ejaculate size is correlated with male body size, females can accrue both direct (nutritional) and indirect (genetic) benefits from multiple mating. We examined remating decisions in females of the seed beetle Stator limbatus and, using path analysis, examined the effects of male body size on the size of his ejaculate, the amount of ejaculate that was successfully transferred to females, and the overall effect of these variables on female fecundity. Larger males produced larger ejaculates and consequently transferred a larger ejaculate to females, but the effects on female fecundity differed between the females' first and second mates. Both larger first and second males were able to transfer more of their ejaculate to females than were smaller males. Both the total amount of ejaculate transferred by these males and polyandry (number of matings) were positively correlated to female fecundity independently of each other. However, larger second males were more successful at stimulating female fecundity independently of how much ejaculate they transferred. We also provide evidence that females are choosy during their second mating opportunity. Both female choosiness and higher female investment after mating with larger second males suggest that females may benefit from both direct and indirect effects from multiple mating. We also conclude that male body size is under both directional fecundity selection and directional sexual selection.

Keywords: body size; directional selection; ejaculate nutritial benefits; nuptial gifts; polyandry; sexual size dimorphism.

This manuscript type has been corrected to "Research Article."


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Biol LettHome page
J. Moya-Larano, M. E. T. El-Sayyid, and C. W Fox
Smaller beetles are better scramble competitors at cooler temperatures
Biol Lett, October 22, 2007; 3(5): 475 - 478.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.