Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.02.002
Title (Primary) Mate-choice copying in Drosophila melanogaster: Impact of demonstration conditions and male–male competition
Author Germain, M.; Blanchet, S.; Loyau, A.; Danchin, É.
Source Titel Behavioural Processes
Year 2016
Department OEKOTOX; NSF
Volume 125
Page From 76
Page To 84
Language englisch
Keywords Mate-choice copying; Drosophila melanogaster; Social learning; Experimental protocol; Competition; Limited attention; Cognition
UFZ wide themes RU1;
Abstract Individuals of many species, including invertebrates, have been shown to use social information in mate choice, notably by extracting information from the mating performance of opposite sex conspecifics, a process called “mate-choice copying” (MCC). Here, we performed four experiments with Drosophila melanogaster to investigate two aspects of MCC methodology: whether (i) providing positive and negative social information simultaneously or sequentially during the demonstration phase of the protocol, and (ii) male–male competition during the mate-choice test, affect MCC. We found that the simultaneous provision of positive and negative information during demonstrations hampered female MCC performance, compared to the sequential provision of information. This can be interpreted in two alternative, yet not exclusive, ways: (i) attentional mechanisms may restrict the focus of the brain to one source of information at a time, and/or (ii) the shorter duration of demonstrations in the simultaneous protocol may have not permit full social learning use and may explain the non-detection of MCC in that protocol. Moreover, we did not detect any significant effect of male–male competition on female choice. This study thus provides further evidence for MCC in D. melanogaster and expands on the necessary methodology for detailed studies.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=17376
Germain, M., Blanchet, S., Loyau, A., Danchin, É. (2016):
Mate-choice copying in Drosophila melanogaster: Impact of demonstration conditions and male–male competition
Behav. Processes 125 , 76 - 84 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.02.002