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.

表型可塑性响应（phenotypically plastic responses）在应对种内、行为（多为性相关）信号（如求偶鸣叫）的研究中愈发频繁地被报道。本研究探讨了短期暴露于雄性鸣唱信号对翅二型（wing dimorphic）蟋蟀物种Gryllus firmus成虫雌性个体生殖生活史权衡（reproductive life history trade-off）的影响。在Gryllus firmus中，长翅型雌性个体在刚完成成虫蜕皮（adult molt）后即拥有飞行肌（flight muscles）与小型卵巢（ovaries），而短翅型雌性个体在相同发育阶段则具备小型且无功能的飞行肌与大型卵巢。长翅型雌性个体的飞行肌会在成虫蜕皮后的卵巢发育过程中发生组织溶解。基于生殖生理层面的这些差异，我们预测两种翅型个体对鸣唱信号暴露的响应存在差异。我们提出假设：此类暴露可促进两种翅型个体的卵巢发育，同时会加速长翅型雌性个体的飞行肌组织溶解，使得该翅型个体展现出更强的相对响应强度。正如预期，两种翅型的暴露组雌性个体的卵巢质量均出现显著提升，且长翅型雌性个体展现出更强的相对响应。鸣唱信号暴露并未对飞行肌组织溶解产生显著影响，这表明长翅型雌性个体更强的卵巢质量响应或许是通过飞行肌能量底物的重新分配来实现的。本研究证实了与适合度相关的性状会对成虫社交环境产生快速响应，这一结果具有深远意义——成年个体在成熟期所经历的求偶信号体验，在各物种种群中几乎普遍存在。