title: Sexual harassment induces a temporary fitness cost but does not constrain the acquisition of environmental information in fruit flies.
abstract: Across animals, sexual harassment induces fitness costs for females and males. However, little is known about the cognitive costs involved, i.e. whether it constrains learning processes, which could ultimately affect an individual's fitness. Here we evaluate the acquisition of environmental information in groups of fruit flies challenged with various levels of male sexual harassment. We show that, although high sexual harassment induces a temporary fitness cost for females, all fly groups of both sexes exhibit similar levels of learning. This suggests that, in fruit flies, the fitness benefits of acquiring environmental information are not affected by the fitness costs of sexual harassment, and that selection may favour cognition even in unfavourable social contexts. Our study provides novel insights into the relationship between sexual conflicts and cognition and the evolution of female counterstrategies against male sexual harassment.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, CNRS, IRD, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91198, France serafino.teseo@egce.cnrs-gif.fr.
authors.forename: Serafino
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0797-1032
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Teseo
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, CNRS, IRD, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91198, France.
authors.forename: Liisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Veerus
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, CNRS, IRD, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91198, France.
authors.forename: Céline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moreno
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Évolution, Génomes, Comportement et Écologie, CNRS, IRD, Université Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91198, France.
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mery
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009812:Odorants; D011803:Quinine / Q000494:pharmacology; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal; D013649:Taste
chemical_list: D011803:Quinine
keywords: Drosophila; behavioural ecology; cognitive ecology; sexual conflict; sexual harassment