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Mate Choice

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 15, 2026

Observation and Quantification of Mating Behavior in the Pinewood Nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

Observation and Quantification of Mating Behavior in the Pinewood Nematode, Bursaphelenchus xylophilus

Published on: December 25, 2016

How multiple mating by females affects sexual selection.

Stephen M Shuster¹, William R Briggs, Patricia A Dennis

¹Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5640, USA. stephen.shuster@nau.edu

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences

|January 23, 2013

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Female multiple mating (polyandry) can boost sexual selection and fitness, but only if males who mate more sire more offspring and females are semelparous (reproduce once). Iteroparity can decrease sexual selection intensity.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary Biology
Behavioral Ecology
Reproductive Biology

Background:

Multiple mating by females (polyandry) is hypothesized to increase sexual selection and female fitness.
The actual effects of polyandry on sexual selection and fitness are contingent on specific biological conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the conditions under which polyandrous mating influences post-mating sexual selection and enhances female fitness.
To clarify the relationship between mating patterns, offspring number, and sexual selection intensity in both sexes.

Main Methods:

Analyzing the covariance between male mating number and male offspring number (Cov(♂)(m,o)).
Analyzing the covariance between female mating number and female offspring number (Cov(♀)(m,o)).
Assessing progeny-parent assignments and identifying mating/non-mating individuals.

Main Results:

Polyandry enhances sexual selection only when males with higher mating numbers sire proportionally more offspring (positive Cov(♂)(m,o)).
Semelparity (reproducing once) maintains sexual selection, while iteroparity (multiple reproductive bouts) increases offspring number variance among females, reducing sexual selection intensity.
Female iteroparity can decrease the variance in offspring numbers among females, thus decreasing sexual selection on males.

Conclusions:

The impact of female polyandry on sexual selection and fitness is context-dependent, requiring specific patterns of sperm utilization and female reproductive strategies.
Understanding the interplay between mating systems, reproductive life-histories, and genetic contributions is crucial for predicting the strength and direction of sexual selection.