Banca de DEFESA: AMANDA AMORIM DA SILVA CARDOSO

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
DISCENTE : AMANDA AMORIM DA SILVA CARDOSO
DATA : 27/09/2021
HORA: 09:00
LOCAL: Google Meet
TÍTULO:

CAN SOCIAL INTERACTIONS CHANGE THE SEXUAL BEHAVIOR OF ANASTREPHA FRATERCULUS (DIPTERA: TEPHRITIDAE)?

PALAVRAS-CHAVES:

mate choice,  previous sexual experience, social isolation, Sterile Insect Technique

PÁGINAS: 48
GRANDE ÁREA: Ciências Biológicas
ÁREA: Ecologia
SUBÁREA: Ecologia Aplicada
RESUMO:

Sexual behavior in many fruit fly species is essential for males to conquer females. They can gather information through social interactions and modify their behavior to obtain more matings in the future. It has been suggested that previous sexual experience and social interactions among males can change their sexual behavior, which, in turn, make them more likely to mate in subsequent courtships. The fruit fly Anastrepha fraterculus (Wiedemann, 1830) (Diptera: Tephritidae) is an agricultural pest that exhibits the complex sexual behavior of lek polygyny. The study of male courtship behavior in this species can contribute to improving the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), a birth control method for insects. The success of SIT depends on the mass rearing and radiation-induced sterilization of millions of flies capable of competing with wild insects for mates after being released in the field. This study aimed to assess the mating competitiveness and sexual behavior of males kept in different social contexts to determine the extent to which previous mating experience or male-male interactions can improve their sexual performance and copulation success in subsequent courtships. Males were kept aggregated or isolated during their sexual maturation period, and these two groups were exposed or unexposed to virgin females, thus forming the four treatments tested: aggregated copulated males, isolated copulated males, aggregated virgin males, and isolated virgin males. Mating competitiveness tests and courtship behavior analysis were performed using the four groups of male treatments. The results of this study showed that previous sexual experience neither increased sexual competitiveness nor changed the courtship behavior of A. fraterculus males compared to virgin males. However, males exposed to social interaction during the sexual maturation were more sexually competitive than males kept in isolation and higher frequency of behavioral units associated with pheromone emission. These findings contribute to our understanding of how the courtship and mating behavior of A. fraterculus males can change with social interactions during their sexual maturation. Social interactions during the sexual maturity period may be an important factor to be considered in SIT programs, considering that the success of the technique rely on the ability of sterile males to compete and mate in the field with as many wild females as possible, thus inducing failure in the reproduction of this agricultural pest.

MEMBROS DA BANCA:
Presidente - 1228289 - IARA SORDI JOACHIM BRAVO
Interno - 1679716 - HILTON FERREIRA JAPYASSU
Externa à Instituição - MARIA APARECIDA CASTELLANI - UESB