Data from : Hunger-dependent female receptivity leads to variable optimal polyandry with equal fitness in a nuptial gift-giving spider

Female mating decisions are often plastic, dependent on the environment.
In the nuptial gift-giving spider Pisaura mirabilis, the optimal number of
matings for females depends on prey availability and is regulated by
hunger-dependent receptivity. We determined the lower and upper optimal
number of matings for females and test the hypothesis that females that
obtain the optimal number of matings will receive that same reproductive
success independently of what the optimal number is. In laboratory
experiments, females were offered 0, 1, 2 or 3 house flies per day as
supplementary feeding and were daily presented with 4 gift-carrying males
until oviposition. Fecundity, oviposition latency, egg hatching success,
and the number of live spiderlings were independent of the level of
supplementary feeding. We established a trade-off between mating and
aggression (i.e. gift stealing and sexual cannibalism), which are
alternative ways of compensating for low foraging success. We confirmed
2-3 as the minimum optimal number of matings. The maximum optimal number
of matings varied between 12 and 22-24 depending on the females’ level of
aggression. Thus, female behavioral plasticity allows them to decouple
their fitness from dependence on environmental prey availability through
hunger-dependent receptivity.