No evidence that male sexual experience increases mating success in a coercive mating system

Maider Iglesias-Carrasco, Rebecca J. Fox*, Alan Vincent, Megan L. Head, Michael D. Jennions

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    15 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Several studies have shown that sexual experience can alter a male's mating behaviour to increase his future mating success. One explanation is that experienced males are better at courting females and inducing them to mate. Experienced males might also be better at identifying higher quality mates, although fewer studies have tested for this benefit. In both cases, however, these potential benefits of sexual experience might be partially offset by the energetic costs of courting and mating, which tend to reduce a male's subsequent ability to invest in sexually selected traits, and thereby reduce his future attractiveness and mating success (i.e. hasten the onset of reproductive senescence). Here we used the eastern mosquitofish, Gambusia holbrooki, to test whether sexual experience elevates male mating success. We housed recently matured males either with full mating access to females (experienced males) or in the visual and olfactory presence of females with which they could not mate (naïve males). We then measured the strength of male mate choice for larger, more fecund, females, male mating behaviour (time spent chasing females and the number of copulation attempts) and insemination success. Experienced and naïve males did not differ significantly in their mating behaviour and there was no effect of sexual experience on the likelihood of mating or on the number of sperm inseminated (although experienced males had a tendency to be less successful when performing gonopodial thrusts). Experienced males in two-choice trials were, however, significantly more likely to ‘inspect’ both females and had a significantly stronger preference for larger females. Finally, we measured male immune response and growth to test for any costs of the increased mating effort that is concomitant with greater experience. Experienced males had significantly slower postmaturation growth and a significantly weaker immune response than naïve males.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)201-208
    Number of pages8
    JournalAnimal Behaviour
    Volume150
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Apr 2019

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