Male Adaptive Plasticity Can Explain the Evolution of Sexual Perception Costs

Area of Science:

• Evolutionary biology
• Animal behavior
• Gerontology

Background:

• Sensory perception of environmental cues can induce plastic responses affecting fitness and aging.
• Male fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) experience reduced fitness and accelerated aging when perceiving female cues without mating.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the costs of sexual perception in male fruit flies are a byproduct of adaptive plastic responses to female cues.
• To determine the conditions under which plastic responses to sexual cues are adaptive.

Main Methods:

• Experimental manipulation of short-term (1 day), medium-term (3-7 days), and long-term (15 days) perception of female cues in male fruit flies.
• Mathematical simulations exploring various socio-sexual and demographic scenarios.
• Analysis of how sexual perception impacts male lifetime reproductive success and sexual selection.

Main Results:

• Short-term perception of female cues enhanced male lifetime reproductive success in competitive settings.
• Medium-term perception was neutral, while long-term perception incurred reproductive costs.
• Simulations indicated that these plastic responses are adaptive when mating rates fluctuate, potentially magnifying sexual selection.

Conclusions:

• Plastic responses to sexual cues in male fruit flies can be adaptive, particularly when mating opportunities are variable.
• The benefits of short-term perception accrue to high-quality males, while costs are borne by lower-quality males, intensifying sexual selection.