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The Royal Society, Biology Letters, 1(8), p. 35-38, 2011

DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0544

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Perception of male–male competition influences Drosophila copulation behaviour even in species where females rarely remate

Journal article published in 2011 by Anne Lizé, Rowan J. Doff, Eve A. Smaller, Zenobia Lewis, Gregory D. D. Hurst ORCID
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

Males in many taxa are known to exhibit behavioural plasticity in response to the perceived intensity of sperm competition, reflected in Drosophila melanogaster by increased copulation duration following prior exposure to a rival. We tested the prediction that males do not adjust their copulation effort in response to the presence of a competitor in Drosophila species where there is little or no sperm competition. Contrary to expectations, male plasticity in copulation duration was found in both Drosophila subobscura and Drosophila acanthoptera , species in which females rarely remate. These results are discussed in relation to the adaptive basis of plasticity in these species.