Estimates of last male sperm precedence (P 2) are often used to infer mechanisms of sperm
competition, a form of post-copulatory sexual selection. However, high levels of mating …

Highly variable within and across species, patterns of sperm use not only are often driven by
post-copulatory sexual selection but can also be impacted by experimental design. In …

Experimental studies in insects have shown how sperm competition can be a potent
selective force acting on an array of male reproductive traits [1–4]. However, the role of …

We have seen in Chapter 9 how female insects can obtain a variety of benefits from
copulating with several different males. The storage of sperm by females following …

Reproductive success of any organism depends on multiple factors starting from selection of
mates, effective copulation, to successful fertilization of eggs. In many species, males …

Polyandrous females often mate with more than two males, and yet most studies of
postcopulatory sexual selection involve only two males. In insects, second-male sperm …

Sperm competition has been demonstrated in a variety of insects and is, in addition to
ecological resource distribution and sex ratios, generally believed to play a major role in the …

Organisms are continuously interacting using a diverse array of mechanisms, some of them
very evident, others subtle, to obtain the resources needed for reproduction. Sexual …

Research on the behavioural ecology of mating systems often revolves around plasticity in
reproduction. Traditionally, many behavioural ecologists have focused on the role of …

Highlights•Failure to produce offspring despite mating is surprisingly common across
species.•In L. simulans, this mating failure is a repeatable male-associated trait.•Here we …