Cryptic Sexual Conflict in Gift-Giving Insects: Chasing the "Chase-Away"

拟议研究的层层摘要首席调查员：Scott Kitchener Sakalu项目标题：送礼昆虫中隐秘的性别冲突：追逐夸张的男性性饰和女性交配偏好的共同进化的传统模型，假设女性通过优先与最显眼的男性交配，获得物质利益或间接遗传利益。然而，追逐性选择模型表明，精致的男性性行为可能会出现，因为它们利用了女性感官系统中预先存在的偏见，诱导女性以次优的方式交配。这一假说的一个基本要素是，这种操纵应该很快导致雌性抵抗或减少对雄性显示特征的吸引。尽管在某些分类群中的轶事证据似乎为雌性抗性的进化提供了支持，但这一假说尚未得到直接检验。婚礼食物礼物是多种昆虫交配系统的一个组成部分，可能是雄性试图影响雌性交配行为、违背雌性自身生殖兴趣的频繁渠道。我的实验室最近的研究表明，雄性装饰蟋蟀提供的食物礼物含有一度抑制雌性性接受性的物质，但雌性蟋蟀已经对这些物质产生了抵抗力。这项拟议的研究试图通过将这些食物礼物提供给几个非送礼物种的雌性，并测量它们对雌性健康的影响，来确定这些食物礼物的接受性抑制特性。这些研究可能导致识别抑制雌性交配行为的雄性衍生激素物质，这最终可能提供一种安全而有效的害虫物种生物防治手段。

Lay Abstract of Proposed ResearchPrincipal Investigator: Scott Kitchener SakalukProject Title: Cryptic sexual conflict in gift-giving insects: chasing the "chase-away"Conventional models for the coevolution of exaggerated male sexual ornaments and female mating preferences posit that females derive material benefits or indirect genetic benefits by preferentially mating with the most conspicuous males. The chase-away sexual selection model, however, suggests that elaborate male sexual displays can arise because they exploit pre-existing biases in females' sensory systems, inducing females to mate in a sub-optimal manner. An essential element of this hypothesis is that such manipulation should quickly lead to female resistance or decreased attraction to male display traits. Although anecdotal evidence in certain taxa appears to provide support for the evolution of female resistance, the hypothesis has not been directly tested. Nuptial food gifts, an integral feature of the mating systems of a wide variety of insects, may be a frequent conduit by which males attempt to influence the mating behavior of females against females' own reproductive interests. Recent work in my laboratory suggests that the food gifts offered by male decorated crickets contain substances that at one time inhibited the sexual receptivity of females, but that females have evolved resistance to these substances. The proposed research seeks to establish the receptivity-inhibiting properties of these food gifts by offering them to females of several non-gift-giving species, and measuring their effect on female fitness. These studies may lead to the identification of male-derived hormonal substances that inhibit female mating behavior, which ultimately could furnish a safe, but effective means of biological control of insect pest species.