Effect of mating history on gender preference in the hermaphroditic snail Physa acuta

Several internally fertilizing hermaphroditic animals can only perform one sexual role at a time. In such species, two individuals that engage in a copulation may have different interests in acting as male or female. A gender choice must be made which, if both individuals have the same preference, m...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Animal behaviour 2007-11, Vol.74 (5), p.1455-1461
Main Authors: Facon, Benoît, Ravignē, Virginie, Sauteur, Laure, Goudet, Jérôme
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal ethology
Animal reproduction
Biodiversity and Ecology
Biological and medical sciences
domain_sde.be.bp
Effects
Environmental Sciences
Freshwater
freshwater snail
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender
gender preference
hermaphrodite
mating history
mating system
Mollusks
Physa acuta
Preferences
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
reproductive behaviour
sexual conflict
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Summary:Several internally fertilizing hermaphroditic animals can only perform one sexual role at a time. In such species, two individuals that engage in a copulation may have different interests in acting as male or female. A gender choice must be made which, if both individuals have the same preference, may give rise to a severe sexual conflict. Here we tested the hypothesis that gender choice could be influenced by mating history, using the freshwater snail, Physa acuta. We recorded the copulatory behaviour of 240 pairs composed of a focal individual and a partner, each either short- or long-isolated. We found that the time to the first copulation was unaffected by isolation status, suggesting that first contacts in this species are random processes. In contrast, the duration of copulations and the frequency of rejection behaviours suggested that individual gender preference switches from male biased to female biased as isolation increases. In addition, snails rejected copulations more frequently when presented to a partner with the same isolation status. Reciprocity, measured as the rate of gender swapping between the first and second copulations, was high irrespective of gender status. We suggest possible evolutionary causes for this gender preference switch and discuss its potential importance in natural population as well as its consequences for the maintenance of hermaphroditism.
ISSN:0003-3472
1095-8282
DOI:10.1016/j.anbehav.2007.02.019