LIFESCI 2D03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Evolutionarily Stable Strategy, Mate Choice, Sperm Competition
5 Nov 2017
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Experiment: of mate choice benefits in spitting spiders. These males provide no resources to females which is why they are ideal for investigating indirect fitness benefits of mate choice. Methods: mate choice experiment in a y - shaped test chamber. Phase 1: two males at end of arms (chemical cues only, no visual cues since there is a thick wire mesh and no sound cues due to material of the chamber). Phase 2: pheromones of males only at end of arms (on filter paper; no spider there). Observed that female still preferred the same male from phase i. mating experiment: half females mated with preferred male, half with nonpreferred male; can tell preference based on where the female spends her time. Results: if a female mates with a preferred male, the egg sac-weight, the egg weight, the number of eggs and the fertility of eggs is significantly higher than those of the females that mated with a nonpreferred male.
