Data from: A variance partitioning approach identifies the absence of mate choice and the lack of forced copulation in the water strider Gerris gracilicornis. American Naturalist.

GENERAL INFORMATION

A. Paper associated with this archive
Citation: Malik, M.M., et al. 2025. A variance partitioning approach identifies the absence of mate choice and the lack of forced copulation in the water strider Gerris gracilicornis. American Naturalist

Brief abstract: In animals, choosers assess the attractiveness of courting individuals based on multiple sexual traits rather than a single trait. To quantify mate choice towards combinations of these traits, it is essential to analyse choosers’ responses. The chooser’s responses can depend on the courter's identity, indicating the mate choice of the chooser based on the courter’s overall attractiveness. In addition, examining mate choice across different mating stages (pre-copulatory, copulatory, and post-copulatory) by assessing courter identity effects on chooser behaviours can further clarify mating dynamics. Moreover, estimating the contribution of each sex to the variation in copulation frequency can provide insights into the mating system. Here, we examined the water strider Gerris gracilicornis and found that pre- and post-copulatory behaviours in both sexes did not vary with the identity of the opposite-sex, indicating a lack of pre- or post-copulatory mate choice in either sex. Our results also suggested that copulation frequency was not influenced by males, thereby confirming the absence of forced copulation in G. gracilicornis. Overall, this study offers a novel approach for understanding the mating system of a species and assessing stage-specific mate choice based on overall attractiveness.

B. Originators
Muna Maisarah Malik, Eunyoung Choi, Byeongho Lee & Chang S. Han
Department of Biology, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea

C. Contact information
Chang S. Han
Department of Biology, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 02447, Republic of Korea
[e-mail]

D. Dates of data collection
N/A

E. Geographic Location(s) of data collection
Republic of Korea

F. Funding Sources
This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grants funded by the Korea government (NRF-2022R1C1C1004303 and RS-2024-00405751) to CSH.

ACCESS INFORMATION
1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data or code

2. Data derived from other sources

3. Recommended citation for this data/code archive
Malik, M.M., et al. 2025. Data from: A variance partitioning approach identifies the absence of mate choice and the lack of forced copulation in the water strider Gerris gracilicornis. American Naturalist

DATA & CODE FILE OVERVIEW
This data repository consist of 1 data file, 1 code script, and this README document, with the following data and code filenames and variables
Data files and variables

Data_Malik.txt

#assay_order: assay order
#male: male ID
#female: female ID
#pair: pair ID
#copulation_order: copulation order within an assay
#resistance: occurrence of female resistance behaviour
#lat_to_cop: female latency to copulate
#cop_dur: copulation duration
#gurd_dur: guarding duration
#sqrt_lat_to_cop: square-root transformed latenty to copulate
#sqrt_cop_dur: square-root transformed copulation duration
#sqrt_gurd_dur: square-root transformed guarding duration
#copfreq: copulation frequency
#sepbyfemale: guarding termination frequency by female resistance
#sepbymale: guarding termination frequency by male voluntarily dismount
#tapfreq: male tapping frequency
#prolongedgd: prolonged guarding

Code scripts and workflow

ASREML_codes.txt

The codes provided run on ASREML-SA 4.2 (not ASREML-R). After creating the AS file from the data file (Data_Malik.txt), you can execute the codes in ASREML-SA. First, multiple univariate mixed-effects models are used to assess male and female effects on each mating behaviour. Subsequently, multivariate mixed-effects models are applied to calculate among-male (or among-female) correlations between mating behaviours.

SOFTWARE VERSIONS
ASREML-SA 4.2