Data from: Cross–generational effects of sexual harassment on female fitness in the guppy

A large number of studies have identified several direct costs of sexual harassment, including energy expenditure and reduced foraging ability. However, the fitness consequences of sexual harassment over a longer time-scale have never been investigated. Here, we estimated the effects of male sexual harassment on female fitness in the guppy, Poecilia reticulata, a small tropical fish in which sexual conflict over mating rates is particularly pronounced. We compared the lifetime fecundity and survival of two groups of females exposed to different levels of sexual harassment. We further estimated the effect of sexual harassment on the fitness of the second generation by raising the offspring to maturity and measuring traits associated with fecundity in daughters and with pre- and post-copulatory competitiveness in sons. Although sexual harassment did not reduce mothers’ lifetime fecundity, it affected their timing of reproductive allocation. Interestingly, sexually harassed females produced daughters with smaller body size and sons that were less attractive to females and less successful in achieving coercive copulations than the sons of control females. This study provides compelling evidence that sexual harassment can have negative cross-generational fitness effects, suggesting that its consequences on female fitness may be more profound than currently thought.大量研究已明确性骚扰存在多项直接成本，包括能量消耗与觅食能力下降。然而，长期时间尺度下性骚扰的适合度（fitness）后果此前从未被探讨过。本研究以孔雀鱼（Poecilia reticulata）——一种热带小型鱼类，其交配率相关的性冲突尤为显著——为研究对象，评估了雄性性骚扰对雌性适合度的影响。我们对比了两组暴露于不同程度性骚扰的雌性个体的终身繁殖力与存活率。此外，我们通过将子代饲养至性成熟，并测量雌性后代与繁殖力相关的性状、雄性后代交配前与交配后的竞争力相关性状，进一步评估了性骚扰对第二代适合度的影响。尽管性骚扰并未降低母代的终身繁殖力，但会影响其繁殖分配的时间节点。值得注意的是，遭受性骚扰的雌性所产雌性后代体型更小；而相较于对照组雌性的子代，其雄性后代对雌性的吸引力更弱，且成功实施强迫交配的成功率也更低。本研究提供了有力证据，表明性骚扰可对跨代适合度产生负面影响，这意味着性骚扰对雌性适合度的影响可能比当前学界认知更为深远。