The Effect of Genetic Drift On Mating Propensity, Courtship Behaviour, and Postmating Fitness in Drosophila Simulans

Authors: Ringo, John; Barton, Karen; Dowse, Harold

Source: Behaviour, Volume 97, Numbers 3-4, 1986 , pp. 226-232(7)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

Mating propensity, courtship behaviour, and components of postmating fitness were measured in two lines (C and M) of Drosophila simulans which had undergone genetic drift and in the highly outcrossed Base line (B) from which they were derived. B females had higher mating propensity and higher productivity than C or M females, while the drift line females were courted more than B females. B males had higher mating propensity, greater virility (number of females inseminated), and lower productivity (number of offspring) than C or M males; the amount of courtship by B and C males was equal, and greater than that by M males. Thus, mating success was determined by the quantity and quality of male courtship and by the intrinsic propensity of females to mate. The negative correlation between male mating success and postmating fitness disproves for Drosophila HUXLEY'S (1938) hypothesis than intersexual selection does not occur.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156853986X00612

Affiliations: 1: Department of Zoology, University of Maine, Orono, Maine 04469, U.S.A.

Publication date: 1986-01-01