Heat stress reveals a fertility debt owing to postcopulatory sexual selection

Climates are changing rapidly, demanding equally rapid adaptation of natural populations. Whether sexual selection can aid such adaptation is under debate; while sexual selection should promote adaptation when individuals with high mating success are also best adapted to their local surroundings, the expression of sexually selected traits can incur costs. Here we asked what the demographic consequences of such costs may be once climates change to become harsher and the strength of natural selection increases. We investigated how an evolutionary history of strong postcopulatory sexual selection (sperm competition) affects male fertility under acute adult heat stress. Harnessing the empirical potential of long-term experimental evolution in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus, we assessed the thermal sensitivity of fertility (TSF) in replicated lines maintained for 68 generations under three alternative mating regimes manipulating the opportunity for sexual and natural selection. We ..., Offspring counts of seed beetle couples stemming from experimental evolution regimes manipulating sexual and natural selection, in which either parent has been subjected to heat shock and sexual competition treatments. Also contains data on transgenerational effects of the heat shock treatment., Microsoft Excel or any open-source equivalent (e.g. OpenOffice)

气候正经历快速变化，这要求自然种群迅速做出适应性响应。性选择能否助力此类适应尚存争议：尽管当交配成功率高的个体同时最适配本地环境时，性选择应能促进适应，但性选择性状的表达会带来适应性代价。本研究旨在探究，当气候变得更为严酷且自然选择强度提升时，此类适应性代价可能引发的种群动态后果。我们探究了强烈交配后性选择（postcopulatory sexual selection，精子竞争sperm competition）的演化历史如何影响雄性在急性成虫热胁迫下的生育能力。依托绿豆象（Callosobruchus maculatus）长期实验演化的实证研究体系，我们对三种通过操控性选择与自然选择机会建立的不同交配制度下、传代68代的重复品系开展了生育热敏感性（TSF）评估。本研究……，本数据集包含来自上述操控性选择与自然选择的实验演化制度的豆象配偶的后代数量数据，其中亲本双方均接受过热激与性竞争处理；同时还涵盖热激处理的跨代效应相关数据。数据集可使用Microsoft Excel或任意开源等效软件（如OpenOffice）打开。