Balaban-Feld Jesse, Valone Thomas J
Saint Louis University, Department of Biology, MO, USA.
Saint Louis University, Department of Biology, MO, USA.
Behav Processes. 2017 Sep;142:84-90. doi: 10.1016/j.beproc.2017.06.002. Epub 2017 Jun 15.
Work on the repeatability of reproductive behaviour has mainly focused on the consistency of female preferences. We characterised the consistency of individual male Drosophila melanogaster reproductive behaviour in two experiments. In the first experiment, we allowed males to interact with a pair of live females that differed in body size. We then controlled female behaviour in a second experiment by examining the courtship behaviour of individual males interacting with a pair of decapitated females that varied in body size. In both experiments, we examined the consistency of individual male reproductive behaviour across two repeated trials on the same day. Males did not exhibit a courtship preference for the larger female in either experiment, but, in experiment 1, males did exhibit post-copulatory choice by copulating for longer durations with the large female, and males that mated with the same type of female in both trials exhibited repeatable behaviour. In general, we found weak evidence of consistent male courtship behaviour in the presence of behaving females. However, when female behaviour was controlled in experiment 2, we found that male courtship behaviour was highly repeatable. These results indicate that individual male D. melanogaster exhibit consistent reproductive behaviour and demonstrate the importance of controlling female behaviour when attempting to characterise the repeatability of male reproductive behaviour.
关于繁殖行为重复性的研究主要集中在雌性偏好的一致性上。我们在两项实验中对雄性黑腹果蝇个体繁殖行为的一致性进行了特征描述。在第一个实验中，我们让雄性与一对体型不同的活体雌性进行互动。然后在第二个实验中，我们通过检查个体雄性与一对体型不同的断头雌性互动时的求偶行为来控制雌性行为。在这两个实验中，我们都考察了同一天内两次重复试验中个体雄性繁殖行为的一致性。在两个实验中，雄性都没有表现出对体型较大雌性的求偶偏好，但是，在实验1中，雄性确实表现出了交配后的选择，即与体型较大的雌性交配时间更长，并且在两次试验中与同类型雌性交配的雄性表现出了可重复的行为。总体而言，我们发现当有行为的雌性存在时，雄性求偶行为一致性的证据较弱。然而，在实验2中当雌性行为得到控制时，我们发现雄性求偶行为具有高度的可重复性。这些结果表明，雄性黑腹果蝇个体表现出一致的繁殖行为，并证明了在试图描述雄性繁殖行为的重复性时控制雌性行为的重要性。
