Abstract
Weapons used in male fighting can be costly to males and are often reported to trade off with other characters such as wings or spermatogenic investment. This study investigated whether increased investment into weapons can generate evolutionary changes in mating strategy for armed males. Male flour beetles, Gnatocerus cornutus, have enlarged mandibles that are used in male-male competition. We subjected these weapons to 12 generations of bidirectional selection and found trade-offs between weapons and two other male characters: wing and testis size. In addition, probably as a consequence of the observed changes in investment, dispersal ability and ejaculatory volume differ significantly between the lines. This indicates that the exaggeration of a weapon can be associated with dispersal and ejaculatory strategies. Thus, altered investment into weapons can lead to correlated changes in life-history traits.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1705-1710 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
| Volume | 277 |
| Issue number | 1688 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jun 7 2010 |
Keywords
- Exaggerated trait
- Resource allocation
- Sexual selection
- Sperm competition
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Immunology and Microbiology(all)
- Environmental Science(all)
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)