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The ecology of sexual conflict: ecologically dependent parallel evolution of male harm and female resistance in Drosophila melanogaster
Author(s) -
Arbuthnott Devin,
Dutton Emily M.,
Agrawal Aneil F.,
Rundle Howard D.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.12222
Subject(s) - sexual conflict , biology , ecology , sexual selection , evolutionary ecology , experimental evolution , population , adaptation (eye) , resistance (ecology) , ecological speciation , divergence (linguistics) , natural selection , evolutionary biology , demography , genetic variation , genetics , gene flow , linguistics , philosophy , neuroscience , sociology , gene , host (biology)
The prevalence of sexual conflict in nature, along with the potentially stochastic nature of the resulting coevolutionary trajectories, makes it an important driver of phenotypic divergence and speciation that can operate even in the absence of environmental differences. The majority of empirical work investigating sexual conflict's role in population divergence/speciation has therefore been done in uniform environments and any role of ecology has largely been ignored. However, theory suggests that natural selection can constrain phenotypes influenced by sexual conflict. We use replicate populations of Drosophila melanogaster adapted to alternative environments to test how ecology influences the evolution of male effects on female longevity. The extent to which males reduce female longevity, as well as female resistance to such harm, both evolved in association with adaptation to the different environments. Our results demonstrate that ecology plays a central role in shaping patterns of population divergence in traits under sexual conflict.