High predation risk and food depletion lead to sexual reproduction in cyclically parthenogenetic Daphnia. Mating, the core of sexual reproduction, also occurs under these conditions. Assessment of the environmental conditions and alteration of mating efforts may aid in determining the success of sexual reproduction. Here, we evaluated the impacts of predation risk, food quantity, and reproducti...

To evaluate the influence of mating behavior on cardiac function, changes in heart rate (HR), electrocardiogram (ECG), hematocrit (Hct) and serum concentration of alpha-atrial natriuretic peptide (alpha-ANP) were evaluated in 10 clinically sound Thoroughbred stallions before and after mating behavior. The stallions were submitted twice to experimental pseudomating in the same month in 2009 and ...

Among the small group of species (e.g., some temperate zone turtles, snakes, and bats) that exhibit a dissociated reproductive pattern, the red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) is probably the most well studied. For these species, courtship and mating occur immediately upon emergence from winter dormancy; the gonads remain essentially inactive. Male red-sided garter snakes ar...

Animals of many species accept or solicit recurring copulations with the same partner; i.e., show repeated mating. An evolutionary explanation for this excess requires that the advantages of repeated mating outweigh the costs, and that behavioral components of repeated mating are genetically influenced. There can be benefits of repeated mating for males when there is competition for fertilizati...

A century of research into both behavior and genetics in Xiphophorus has yielded important insights into the genetic architecture underlying sexual behavior, particularly as concerns male courtship and mating strategies. Two Y-linked loci underlie much of the variation in male mating strategies, possibly reflecting selection for modularization. Courtship behavior elements, in contrast, are unde...

I tested the effects of male body size on male mating behavior and reproductive success in the western mosquitofish, Gambusia affinis. In two separate behavioral experiments (male–male competition and no-competition), I tested the predictions that (1) larger males out-compete smaller males for mates and (2) small males increase their number of mating attempts in the absence of a larger competit...

Mormann, Kimberly, "Factors influencing parasite-related suppression of mating behavior in the isopod Caecidotea intermedius" Abstract Parasites with indirect life cycles often facilitate changes in their intermediate hosts in ways that increase the likelihood of transmission to their definitive hosts. Acanthocephalan infections typically correlate with altered pigmentation, antipredatory behav...