Meeting Abstract
Individuals are expected to alter their reproductive tactics in response to variation in available resources. The bean beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus, is an ideal model for understanding how variation in resource availability affects reproductive behavior. Adults typically do not eat or drink after pupation, but they will consume water if given the opportunity. Also, male bean beetles have barbed intromittent organs that harm females during mating. Despite this cost, female bean beetles often mate multiply, even when males are prevented from harassing them. Previous work suggested that females may derive hydration benefits from male ejaculate transferred during mating, because females given access to water mated less frequently than females not given access to water. We asked whether water access would also affect male mating behavior or the reproductive success of females mated to well-hydrated vs. dehydrated males. We tested whether males given access to water transferred larger ejaculates, copulated for longer periods of time, or exhibited a stronger preference for virgin female mates than males not given access to water. We also tested whether females mated to these two categories of males differed in post-mating lifespan, fecundity, or egg viability. We found that males were more likely to copulate with virgin female beetles than with non-virgins, although they copulated with non-virgin females for longer. Hydration status did not affect the strength of males’ preference for virgins. Females mated to hydrated males did not live longer than females mated to dehydrated males, but they exhibited slightly higher fecundity and higher egg viability.
