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Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Evidence for stronger discrimination between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners in sexual vs. asexual female freshwater snails

Sydney Stork, Joseph Jalinsky and Maurine Neiman
PeerJ (San Francisco, CA), Vol.10, p.e14470
11/24/2022
DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14470
PMCID: PMC9701497
PMID: 36447513
url
https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.14470View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Once-useful traits that no longer contribute to fitness tend to decay over time. Here, we address whether the expression of mating-related traits that increase the fitness of sexually reproducing individuals but are likely less useful or even costly to asexual counterparts seems to exhibit decay in the latter. Potamopyrgus antipodarum is a New Zealand freshwater snail characterized by repeated transitions from sexual to asexual reproduction. The frequent coexistence of sexual and asexual lineages makes P. antipodarum an excellent model for the study of mating-related trait loss. Under the presumption (inherent in the Biological Species Concept) that failure to discriminate between conspecific and heterospecific mating partners represents a poor mate choice, we used a mating choice assay including sexual and asexual P. antipodarum females and conspecific (presumed better choice) vs . heterospecific (presumed worse choice) males to evaluate the loss of behavioral traits related to sexual reproduction. We found that sexual females engaged in mating behaviors with conspecific mating partners more frequently and for a greater duration than with heterospecific mating partners. By contrast, asexual females mated at similar frequency and duration as sexual females, but did not mate more often or for longer duration with conspecific vs . heterospecific males. While further confirmation will require inclusion of a more diverse array of sexual and asexual lineages, these results are consistent with a scenario where selection acting to maintain effective mate discrimination in asexual P. antipodarum is weak or ineffective relative to sexual females and, thus, where asexual reproduction is associated with the evolutionary decay of mating-related traits in this system.
 Freshwater Biology Zoology Animal Behavior Asexuality Evolutionary Studies Mating behavior Parthenogenesis Potamopyrgus antipodarum Relaxed selection Sexual reproduction Trait decay Vestigial traits

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