Social plasticity in reproduction in female Drosophila melanogaster!

Abstract

The expression of behaviours in individuals are not always fixed and may vary according to the specific environmental conditions encountered by an individual. There is significant evidence that male fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, have the capacity to adjust their courtship behaviours depending on the social environment they encounter; however, the extent of plasticity in behavioural responses by females have received much less scrutiny. In this study, we set out to determine whether the presence and/or the types of conspecifics an individual female encounters influences her subsequent reproductive behaviour and patterns of egg production. In our assay, we housed medium-sized adult virgin females in experimental social treatments; either in isolation, or with other conspecific females (that were either of large- or small- body size) to observe how the presence and/or type of social interactions altered later reproductive decisions and outcomes. While in some instances female flies behaved differently depending on their housing treatment, these responses were not particularly consistent between flies obtained from different populations, nor with previously described patterns. Potential contributing factors for these results, and their implications for the future study of female reproductive plasticity are discussed.