Data from: Adult social environment alters female reproductive investment in the cricket Gryllus firmus

Phenotypically plastic responses have been increasingly documented in response to intraspecific, behavioral (often sexual) signals such as mating calls. We explored the effect of short-term exposure to male calling song on a reproductive life history trade-off in adult females of the wing dimorphic cricket species, Gryllus firmus. In G. firmus, long-winged females possess flight muscles and small ovaries immediately after the adult molt, whereas short-winged females possess small, non-functional flight muscles and large ovaries at the same age. In long-winged females, flight muscles are histolyzed during ovary growth that occurs after the adult molt. Because of these differences in reproductive physiology, we predicted different responses to calling song exposure between the two morphs. We hypothesized that such exposure would boost ovary growth in both wing morphs, but also increase flight muscle histolysis in long-winged females, producing a greater relative response to exposure in this morph. As expected, we saw a significant increase in ovary mass in exposed females of both morphs, and a greater relative response in long-winged females. Calling song exposure did not have a strong effect on flight muscle histolysis, suggesting that the relatively larger ovary response in long-winged females was perhaps fueled instead by reallocation of flight fuels. Our study documents the rapid adult response of a fitness-linked trait to the adult social environment, a result with far-reaching implications, as the experience of mating signals during adulthood should be nearly universal across species.

针对种内行为信号（通常为性信号，如求偶鸣叫）的表型可塑性（phenotypic plasticity）响应，正被越来越多地观测记录。本研究以翅二型蟋蟀物种粗腿蟋（Gryllus firmus）的成年雌性个体为研究对象，探究了短期暴露于雄性求偶鸣声对其繁殖生活史权衡的影响。在粗腿蟋中，长翅型雌性个体在刚完成成虫羽化时即拥有飞行肌与小型卵巢，而短翅型雌性个体在相同发育阶段则具备小型无功能飞行肌与大型卵巢。长翅型雌性个体的飞行肌会在成虫羽化后的卵巢发育过程中发生组织溶解（histolysis）。鉴于繁殖生理学上的这些差异，我们预测两种翅型个体对求偶鸣声暴露的响应会存在差异。我们提出假说：此类鸣声暴露可促进两种翅型个体的卵巢发育，同时会加剧长翅型雌性的飞行肌组织溶解，使得该翅型个体对暴露处理产生更强的相对响应。正如预期，两种翅型的暴露组雌性个体的卵巢重量均出现显著提升，且长翅型个体仍表现出更强的相对响应。求偶鸣声暴露对飞行肌组织溶解未产生显著影响，这表明长翅型雌性个体更强的卵巢发育响应，或许是通过重新分配飞行肌的能量储备来实现的。本研究证实了与适合度（fitness）相关的性状可对成虫所处的社会环境产生快速响应，这一结果具有深远意义——因为成年阶段接触求偶信号的现象在各物种类群中几乎普遍存在。