Negative effects of prolonged dietary restriction on male mating effort: nuptial gifts as honest indicators of long-term male condition

Autor(es)

Macedo-Rego, Renato C. ^{[1, 2]} ; Costa-Schmidt, Luiz Ernesto ^{[2, 3, 4]} ; Santos, Eduardo S. A. ^{[2, 5]} ; Machado, Glauco ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Programa Posgrad Ecol, Rua Matao, Trav 14, 321, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, LAGE Dept Ecol, Rua Matao, Trav 14, 321, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

^[3] Univ Vale Rio dos Sinos, Programa Posgrad Biol, Ave Unisinos, BR-93022000 Sao Leopoldo, RS - Brazil

^[4] Univ Nacl Cordoba, IDEA, CONICET, Lab Biol Reprod & Evoluc, Ave Velez Sarsfield 299, RA-5000 Cordoba Capital - Argentina

^[5] Univ Sao Paulo, Inst Biociencias, Dept Zool, Rua Matao, Trav 14, 321, BR-05508090 Sao Paulo, SP - Brazil

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS; v. 6, FEB 24 2016.
• Citações Web of Science: 1

Resumo

The handicap principle proposes that sexual signals must be costly to be honest. Honesty may be maintained by the costs paid by honest signallers or by the potential costs of cheating. In the latter, handicaps should emerge as a consequence of specific biological constraints, such as life-history trade-offs. Nuptial prey-giving arthropods are good systems to investigate the honesty of sexual signals taking into account trade-offs between self-maintenance and mating effort. We experimentally evaluated if prolonged food shortage during early adulthood imposes long-term negative effects on gift construction by males of the spider Paratrechalea ornata. We also evaluated whether a burst of food availability improved body condition of poorly fed males, increasing their frequency of gift construction. Poorly fed males hardly constructed gifts, even after a marked increase in feeding rate, which clearly improved their body condition. Moreover, initially poorly fed males that latter received high food intake constructed lighter gifts than continuously well fed males. The long-term effects of prolonged dietary restriction on male propensity to construct a gift and on the size of this gift may increase the honesty of this sexually selected signal. From the female's perspective the offer of a gift may bring information on male quality. (AU)

• Processo FAPESP: 12/50229-1 - Macro-ecologia da seleção sexual: influencia do clima sobre caracteres sexualmente selecionados em uma ampla escala geográfica
• Beneficiário: Glauco Machado
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 09/52791-6 - Presentes nupciais em aranhas do gênero Paratrechalea (Aracneae: Trechleidae): novos modelos para velhas perguntas
• Beneficiário: Luiz Ernesto Costa Schmidt
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 15/10448-4 - Inter-relações entre cuidado paternal e seleção sexual em opiliões
• Beneficiário: Glauco Machado
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Regular
• Processo FAPESP: 12/20468-4 - Libélulas (Odonata) Neotropicais: um modelo de estudo para a macro-ecologia da seleção sexual
• Beneficiário: Eduardo da Silva Alves dos Santos
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Pós-Doutorado