Within-group male relatedness reduces harm to females in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: To resolve the mechanisms that switch competition to cooperation is key to understanding biological organization. This is particularly relevant for intrasexual competition, which often leads to males harming females. Recent theory proposes that kin selection may modulate female harm by relaxing competition among male relatives. Here we experimentally manipulate the relatedness of groups of male Drosophila melanogaster competing over females to demonstrate that, as expected, within-group relatedness inhibits male competition and female harm. Females exposed to groups of three brothers unrelated to the female had higher lifetime reproductive success and slower reproductive ageing compared to females exposed to groups of three males unrelated to each other. Triplets of brothers also fought le

SUBMITTER: Carazo P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5768239 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature