Abstract
Mating behaviors are sensitive to novel or stressful thermal conditions, particularly for ectothermic organisms. An organism’s sensitivity to temperature, which may manifest in altered mating outcomes, can be shaped in part by temperatures experienced during development. Here, we tested how developmental temperature shapes the expression of adult mating-related behaviors across different ambient conditions, with a focus on courtship behavior, mating rates, and mating signals and preferences. To do so, we reared treehoppers under two temperature regimes and then tested the expression of male and female mating behaviors across a range of ambient temperatures. We found that developmental temperature affects the thermal sensitivity of courtship behavior and mating signals for males. However, developmental temperature did not affect the thermal sensitivity of courtship or mate preferences in females. This sex-specific plasticity did not alter the likelihood of mating across ambient temperatures, but it did disrupt how closely mating signals and preferences matched each other at higher ambient temperatures. As a result, developmental temperature could alter sexual selection through signal–preference de-coupling. We further discuss how adult age may drive sex-specific results, and the potential for mismatches between developmental and mating thermal environments under future climate change predictions.
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The datasets and code generated for this study are available at Dryad. Doi: https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zkh1893ch.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank N. T. Leith and M. P. Moore for helping with data analysis and manuscript feedback. We would also like to thank M. T. Gonzales for generating the MATLAB script for playbacks, and M. Fowler-Finn for design and construction of custom testing and rearing incubators and temperature sensors.
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The work of KF-F was supported by NSF under Grant IOS-1656818.
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AM and KF-F designed the study. AM, EM, UA, and AO-A collected data. AM and processed and analyzed the data with contributions from KF-F. AM and KF-F were the primary authors with contributions from EM, UA, and AO-A. Funding was provided by NSF IOS-1656818 to KF-F.
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Macchiano, A., Miller, E., Agali, U. et al. Developmental temperature alters the thermal sensitivity of courtship activity and signal–preference relationships, but not mating rates. Oecologia 202, 97–111 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05376-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-023-05376-z