1365-2435/asset/olbannerleft.gif?v=1&s=c8b848a8f001fdfa90240fe2ab26b1f04b6fe8e4)
1365-2435/asset/olbannerright.gif?v=1&s=2cf6e00d281371851f86902da3937ac5884bcfe0)
You have full text access to this OnlineOpen article
Does testis size track expected mating success in yellow dung flies?
Article first published online: 14 MAY 2004
DOI: 10.1111/j.0269-8463.2004.00864.x
Additional Information
How to Cite
BLANCKENHORN, W. U., HELLRIEGEL, B., HOSKEN, D. J., JANN, P., ALTWEGG, R. and WARD, P. I. (2004), Does testis size track expected mating success in yellow dung flies?. Functional Ecology, 18: 414–418. doi: 10.1111/j.0269-8463.2004.00864.x
Publication History
- Issue published online: 14 MAY 2004
- Article first published online: 14 MAY 2004
- Received 8 September 2003; revised 19 December 2003; accepted 23 December 2003
- Abstract
- Article
- References
- Cited By
Keywords:
- Akaike's information criterion (AIC);
- allometry;
- Scatophaga;
- sperm competition;
- sexual selection
Summary
- 1We quantitatively compare the fitness function linking male mating success in the field to body size and the allometric relationship linking testis length (estimating sperm production) to body size, both empirically derived, for the yellow dung fly Scathophaga stercoraria (Diptera: Scathophagidae).
- 2We find that both relationships are similarly non-linear (quadratic) and increasing. The most parsimonious interpretation of this congruence is that the evolution of testis size (and hence sperm numbers) evolutionarily ‘tracks’ the number of copulations a male of a given size can expect, resulting in the particular non-linear testis size-body size allometry evident.
- 3We offer a general, two-tiered statistical approach for this kind of quantitative comparison.