Mate choice intensifies motor signalling in Drosophila. Allan Debelle
et al. Animal Behaviour, Volume 133, November 2017, Pages 169–187.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.09.014
Highlights
• We experimentally increased or decreased sexual selection in Drosophila populations.
• We perform an in-depth analysis of the response of a motor signal (pulse rate).
• Polyandrous males sing at a faster rate and do so for longer than monogamous males.
• Fast song rates are associated with overall increased male motor performance.
• Increasing the opportunity for mate choice increased male motor performance.
Mate
choice has the potential to act on the evolution of motor performance
via its direct influence on motor sexual signals. However, studies
demonstrating this are rare. Here, we performed an in-depth analysis of
Drosophila pseudoobscura courtship song rate, a motor signal under mate
choice in this species, and analysed the response of this signal to
sexual selection manipulation using experimental evolution. We show that
manipulating the opportunity for sexual selection led to changes in
song production rate and singing endurance, with males from the
polyandrous populations producing faster song rates over longer time
periods than males from monogamous populations. We also show that song
rate was correlated with estimates of overall courtship vigour. Our
results suggest that the action of mate choice on a motor signal has
affected male motor performance displayed during courtship. We consider
potential selective benefits associated with changes in motor
performance, including condition-dependent signalling, and discuss the
implications of these results for the study of motor signals under
sexual selection.
Keywords: courtship song; Drosophila
pseudoobscura; experimental evolution; interpulse interval; mate choice;
motor performance; sexual selection
My commentary: Manipulating
courtship opportunities made Drosophila pseudo. sing longer, faster, and
fly and move faster. We are not so distant...
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