Dr. Maydianne Andrade

• In-person event
• 4440Q, Carleton Technology and Training Centre, Carleton University
• 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6

• Contact
• Sue Bertram and Jean-Guy Godin, sue.bertram@carleton.ca

Sexual selection and plasticity: lessons from an extreme mating system

Dr. Maydianne Andrade, Canada Research Chair, Integrative Behaviour & Neuroscience Group, University of Toronto Scarborough

Friday, March 7^th – 3:30PM – CTTC 4440Q

Faculty Hosts: Sue Bertram and Jean-Guy Godin

Animal Behaviour • Evolution • Mating Systems • Redback Spider

I seek to understand how sexual and natural selection interact in the evolution of behavioural, life history and physiological traits related to mating success, and how selection imposed by mating systems and ecology affect plasticity in these traits.  I am particularly interested in how variable demographic and ecological contexts can change the relationship between male phenotypic traits and reproductive success, and how this may favour developmental and behavioural plasticity. I outline laboratory and field studies examining links between plasticity and demographic context in the Australian redback spider (Latrodectus hasselti), a black widow in which short-lived males typically mate only once with cannibalistic females. In this ‘extreme’ mating system, predictions about favoured male phenotypes are simplified since males compete under a spatially and temporally limited set of conditions. I show that, consistent with predictions, male life history, adult size, physiology and behaviour are plastic and sensitive to cues of demographic context.  Thus this type of extreme mating system may be a powerful one for exploring questions about the importance of plasticity in adaptation and divergence.