title: Mate-choice copying in Drosophila melanogaster: Impact of demonstration conditions and male-male competition.
abstract: Individuals of many species, including invertebrates, have been shown to use social information in mate choice, notably by extracting information from the mating performance of opposite sex conspecifics, a process called "mate-choice copying" (MCC). Here, we performed four experiments with Drosophila melanogaster to investigate two aspects of MCC methodology: whether (i) providing positive and negative social information simultaneously or sequentially during the demonstration phase of the protocol, and (ii) male-male competition during the mate-choice test, affect MCC. We found that the simultaneous provision of positive and negative information during demonstrations hampered female MCC performance, compared to the sequential provision of information. This can be interpreted in two alternative, yet not exclusive, ways: (i) attentional mechanisms may restrict the focus of the brain to one source of information at a time, and/or (ii) the shorter duration of demonstrations in the simultaneous protocol may have not permit full social learning use and may explain the non-detection of MCC in that protocol. Moreover, we did not detect any significant effect of male-male competition on female choice. This study thus provides further evidence for MCC in D. melanogaster and expands on the necessary methodology for detailed studies.
authors: Université de Lyon, F-69000, Lyon; Université Lyon 1; CNRS, UMR5558, Laboratoire de Biométrie et Biologie Evolutive, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France; CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, ENFA, UMR5174 EDB (Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique), 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France; Université de Toulouse, UMR5174 EDB, F-31062 Toulouse, France. Electronic address: marion.germain@univ-lyon1.fr.
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Germain
authors: CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, ENFA, UMR5174 EDB (Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique), 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France; CNRS, 09200 Moulis, France.
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Blanchet
authors: Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Department of Conservation Biology, Permoserstrasse 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany; Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Department of System Ecotoxicology, Permoserstrasse 15, 04138 Leipzig, Germany; ECOLAB, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, INPT, UPS, France.
authors: A
authors: A
authors: Loyau
authors: CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, ENFA, UMR5174 EDB (Laboratoire Évolution & Diversité Biologique), 118 route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France; Université de Toulouse, UMR5174 EDB, F-31062 Toulouse, France.
authors: É
authors: É
authors: Danchin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D052586:Mating Preference, Animal; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Cognition; Competition; Drosophila melanogaster; Experimental protocol; Limited attention; Mate-choice copying; Social learning