Professor Richard Ffrench-Constant from the University of Exeter has been studying the behavior of crickets during mating. He knows that the male cricket gives the female an edible gift during mating. Its primary use is to keep the female from eating the sperm, by given the female this edible gift it allows time for the sperm to transfer before the female attempts to feed on the sperm after it is done with eating the edible gift.
But research now has seen that it alters the behavior of the female to where it less likely to mate with other males. The protein from the edible gift has been shown to not only protect the protein for being broken down by enzymes, but could also promotes cell growth and development in target tissues in the female that leads to the influencing of their reproductive behavior.
This article can be found here http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151006144525.htm
" The protein from the edible gift has been shown to not only protect the protein for being broken down by enzymes, but could also promotes cell growth and development in target tissues in the female that leads to the influencing of their reproductive behavior."
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting. You should do a little background reading in the paper that science daily cites and explain why this is.
In the article they mention, "these protected proteins may then alter her reproductive physiology and make her less likely to mate with further males." I wonder how it actually alters their reproductive physiology. Does a larger edible gift alter the physiology more?
ReplyDeleteI saw in the article that a larger gift leads to longer sperm transfer because the female eats longer, which gives the male a better chance of paternity. It also mentioned that the protein content of the gift could affect the female mating again. I wonder if that means the content could make her not mate again even if there wasn't enough time for the sperm transfer.
ReplyDeleteSo would this mean that one receiving this said edible gift that she no longer has the desire to reproduce or will only want to reproduce with that specific partner and if that's the case how would that affect the re-population of that species? I agree with Dr. Randle in a follow up in how it actually affects the physiology in the females.
ReplyDeleteI am in the same boat as "Skatl" if she will only want to mate with the same cricket what happens if that cricket dies or moves? Is their a connection made between the two crickets that makes them stay together? Or do crickets only have to mate once?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what would happen if there was no gift? Would the female eat the sperm and mate with many different males?
ReplyDelete