Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails
Once-useful traits that no longer contribute to fitness tend to decay over time. Here, we address whether the expression of mating-related traits that increase the fitness of sexually reproducing individuals but are likely less useful or even costly to asexual counterparts seems to exhibit decay in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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PeerJ Inc.
2022-11-01
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/14470.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797425700675780608 |
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| author | Sydney Stork Joseph Jalinsky Maurine Neiman |
| author_facet | Sydney Stork Joseph Jalinsky Maurine Neiman |
| author_sort | Sydney Stork |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Once-useful traits that no longer contribute to fitness tend to decay over time. Here, we address whether the expression of mating-related traits that increase the fitness of sexually reproducing individuals but are likely less useful or even costly to asexual counterparts seems to exhibit decay in the latter. Potamopyrgus antipodarum is a New Zealand freshwater snail characterized by repeated transitions from sexual to asexual reproduction. The frequent coexistence of sexual and asexual lineages makes P. antipodarum an excellent model for the study of mating-related trait loss. Under the presumption (inherent in the Biological Species Concept) that failure to discriminate between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners represents a poor mate choice, we used a mating choice assay including sexual and asexual P. antipodarum females and conspecific (presumed better choice) vs. heterospecific (presumed worse choice) males to evaluate the loss of behavioral traits related to sexual reproduction. We found that sexual females engaged in mating behaviors with conspecific mating partners more frequently and for a greater duration than with heterospecific mating partners. By contrast, asexual females mated at similar frequency and duration as sexual females, but did not mate more often or for longer duration with conspecific vs. heterospecific males. While further confirmation will require inclusion of a more diverse array of sexual and asexual lineages, these results are consistent with a scenario where selection acting to maintain effective mate discrimination in asexual P. antipodarum is weak or ineffective relative to sexual females and, thus, where asexual reproduction is associated with the evolutionary decay of mating-related traits in this system. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:19:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c1312fc8109346d491ec9f7088722627 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T08:19:57Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PeerJ |
| spelling | doaj.art-c1312fc8109346d491ec9f70887226272023-12-02T21:52:40ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592022-11-0110e1447010.7717/peerj.14470Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snailsSydney Stork0Joseph Jalinsky1Maurine Neiman2University of Iowa, Iowa City, United StatesUniversity of Iowa, Iowa City, United StatesUniversity of Iowa, Iowa City, United StatesOnce-useful traits that no longer contribute to fitness tend to decay over time. Here, we address whether the expression of mating-related traits that increase the fitness of sexually reproducing individuals but are likely less useful or even costly to asexual counterparts seems to exhibit decay in the latter. Potamopyrgus antipodarum is a New Zealand freshwater snail characterized by repeated transitions from sexual to asexual reproduction. The frequent coexistence of sexual and asexual lineages makes P. antipodarum an excellent model for the study of mating-related trait loss. Under the presumption (inherent in the Biological Species Concept) that failure to discriminate between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners represents a poor mate choice, we used a mating choice assay including sexual and asexual P. antipodarum females and conspecific (presumed better choice) vs. heterospecific (presumed worse choice) males to evaluate the loss of behavioral traits related to sexual reproduction. We found that sexual females engaged in mating behaviors with conspecific mating partners more frequently and for a greater duration than with heterospecific mating partners. By contrast, asexual females mated at similar frequency and duration as sexual females, but did not mate more often or for longer duration with conspecific vs. heterospecific males. While further confirmation will require inclusion of a more diverse array of sexual and asexual lineages, these results are consistent with a scenario where selection acting to maintain effective mate discrimination in asexual P. antipodarum is weak or ineffective relative to sexual females and, thus, where asexual reproduction is associated with the evolutionary decay of mating-related traits in this system.https://peerj.com/articles/14470.pdfAsexualitySexual reproductionPotamopyrgus antipodarumVestigial traitsParthenogenesisTrait decay |
| spellingShingle | Sydney Stork Joseph Jalinsky Maurine Neiman Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails PeerJ Asexuality Sexual reproduction Potamopyrgus antipodarum Vestigial traits Parthenogenesis Trait decay |
| title | Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails |
| title_full | Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails |
| title_fullStr | Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails |
| title_short | Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails |
| title_sort | evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs asexual female freshwater snails |
| topic | Asexuality Sexual reproduction Potamopyrgus antipodarum Vestigial traits Parthenogenesis Trait decay |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/14470.pdf |
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