Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyvaskyla, Jyvaskyla, Finland.
Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
Insect Sci. 2020 Apr;27(2):304-316. doi: 10.1111/1744-7917.12639. Epub 2018 Oct 3.
Environmental cues, mainly photoperiod and temperature, are known to control female adult reproductive diapause in several insect species. Diapause enhances female survival during adverse conditions and postpones progeny production to the favorable season. Male diapause (a reversible inability to inseminate receptive females) has been studied much less than female diapause. However, if the males maximized their chances to fertilize females while minimizing their energy expenditure, they would be expected to be in diapause at the same time as females. We investigated Drosophila montana male mating behavior under short-day conditions that induce diapause in females and found the males to be reproductively inactive. We also found that males reared under long-day conditions (reproducing individuals) court reproducing postdiapause females, but not diapausing ones. The diapausing flies of both sexes had more long-chain and less short-chain hydrocarbons on their cuticle than the reproducing ones, which presumably increase their survival under stressful conditions, but at the same time decrease their attractiveness. Our study shows that the mating behavior of females and males is well coordinated during and after overwintering and it also gives support to the dual role of insect cuticular hydrocarbons in adaptation and mate choice.
环境线索，主要是光周期和温度，已知可以控制几种昆虫的雌性成虫滞育。滞育提高了雌性在不利条件下的生存能力，并将后代的产生推迟到有利的季节。与雌性滞育相比，雄性滞育（一种可逆的不能使接受的雌性受精的能力）的研究要少得多。然而，如果雄性在使自己最小化的同时最大限度地提高与雌性受精的机会能量消耗，他们应该与雌性同时处于滞育状态。我们在诱导雌性滞育的短日条件下研究了黑腹果蝇雄性的交配行为，发现雄性没有繁殖能力。我们还发现，在长日条件下饲养的雄性（繁殖个体）会向繁殖后的滞育后雌性求爱，但不会向滞育的雌性求爱。与繁殖的个体相比，滞育的雌雄蝇的表皮上具有更多的长链烃和更少的短链烃，这大概增加了它们在应激条件下的生存能力，但同时降低了它们的吸引力。我们的研究表明，雌性和雄性的交配行为在越冬期间和之后得到了很好的协调，这也支持了昆虫表皮碳氢化合物在适应和配偶选择中的双重作用。
