Muniz Danilo G, Baena Martha L, Macías-Ordóñez Rogelio, Machado Glauco
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia Departamento de Ecologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil.
LAGE do Departamento de Ecologia Instituto de Biociências Universidade de São Paulo São Paulo Brazil.
Ecol Evol. 2018 May 7;8(11):5828-5836. doi: 10.1002/ece3.4121. eCollection 2018 Jun.
Mate searching is assumed to be performed mostly by males, but when females benefit from multiple mating or are under risk of failing to mate, they may also perform mate searching. This is especially important in scramble competition polygynies, in which mate searching is the main mechanism of mate competition. Typically, more mobile individuals are expected to achieve higher mating success because mobility increases their probability of finding mates. If we assume individual movements are mainly explained by mate searching in scramble competition polygynies, we can investigate searching strategies by asking individuals should leave their location and they should go. We hypothesize that individuals will leave their locations when mating opportunities are scarce and will seek spatially close sites with better mating opportunities. We tested these hypotheses for males and females of , a leaf beetle with scramble competition polygyny in which both sexes are promiscuous. Individuals mate and feed exclusively on plants, and thus, individual movements can be described as switches between plants. Females were less likely than males to leave isolated plants, and both males and females moved preferentially to neighboring plants. Males were more likely to leave when the local number of females was low, and the number of males was high. They moved to plants with more females, a behavior consistent with a mate searching strategy. Females were more likely to move to plants with fewer males and many females, a behavior consistent with male harassment avoidance. Strategic movement is widely considered in foraging context, but seldom in a mate searching context. Considering that selection to minimize searching costs, maximize mating success, and minimize harassment may be ubiquitous in nature, we argue that strategic movements by mate searching individuals are likely to occur in many species.
一般认为配偶搜寻主要由雄性进行，但当雌性从多次交配中获益或面临无法交配的风险时，它们也可能进行配偶搜寻。这在争夺式多配偶制中尤为重要，在这种制度下，配偶搜寻是配偶竞争的主要机制。通常，流动性更强的个体有望获得更高的交配成功率，因为流动性增加了它们找到配偶的概率。如果我们假设在争夺式多配偶制中个体的移动主要是由配偶搜寻来解释的，那么我们可以通过询问个体应该何时离开其所在位置以及应该前往何处来研究搜寻策略。我们假设，当交配机会稀缺时，个体会离开其所在位置，并会寻找空间上较近且有更好交配机会的地点。我们针对一种具有争夺式多配偶制且两性都滥交的叶甲虫的雄性和雌性检验了这些假设。个体仅在一种植物上交配和取食，因此，个体的移动可以描述为在不同植物间的转移。雌性比雄性更不可能离开孤立的植物，并且雄性和雌性都更倾向于转移到相邻的植物上。当当地雌性数量少而雄性数量多时，雄性更有可能离开。它们会转移到有更多雌性的植物上，这种行为与配偶搜寻策略一致。雌性更有可能转移到雄性较少而雌性较多的植物上，这种行为与避免雄性骚扰一致。策略性移动在觅食背景下被广泛研究，但在配偶搜寻背景下很少被研究。考虑到在自然界中，为了最小化搜寻成本、最大化交配成功率以及最小化骚扰的选择可能普遍存在，我们认为进行配偶搜寻的个体的策略性移动很可能在许多物种中都会发生。
