Are females in good condition better able to cope with costly males?

The costs of mating for a female might depend on both her phenotype and that of her mate. Sexually antagonistic male traits that negatively affect females are often condition-dependent, so a male’s rearing environment can affect the costs he imposes on his mate. Likewise, a female’s ability to resist male-imposed costs might be condition-dependent. We experimentally manipulated female and male body condition in the seed beetle Callosobruchus maculatus by rearing larvae on a good or poor quality diet. We then tested whether the cost of mating for a female (measured as copulation behaviors associated with sexual conflict as well as her fecundity and survival) depended on her and/or her mate’s body condition. As expected, females in better condition laid more eggs and lived longer, indicating higher fitness. More interestingly, females that mated with males in better condition had shorter copulations and started to kick sooner. Both results are potentially indicative of greater sexual conf...

雌性的交配成本可能同时取决于其自身的表型（phenotype）以及配偶的表型。对雌性产生负面影响的性别拮抗雄性性状通常具有条件依赖性（condition-dependent），因此雄性的饲养环境会影响其给配偶施加的交配成本。同理，雌性抵抗雄性施加的交配成本的能力也可能具有条件依赖性。本研究以绿豆象（Callosobruchus maculatus）为实验对象，通过让幼虫在优质或劣质饲料中饲养，分别操控雌雄个体的体况。随后我们检验了雌性的交配成本——以与性冲突相关的交配行为、雌性的繁殖力（fecundity）以及存活率作为衡量指标——是否取决于其自身以及/或配偶的体况。正如预期，体况更佳的雌性产卵量更高、寿命更长，表明其适合度（fitness）更高。更值得关注的是，与体况更佳的雄性交配的雌性，其交配时长更短，且更早开始踢击行为。这两项结果均潜在暗示了更强的性冲突……