The costs and benefits of promiscuity in nematodes

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Nicolaas K. Michiels
• Subject Area: Evolution, Anthropology
• Term: from 2008 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 84129485

This project fuses predictions from research on sexual conflict and parasitehost co-evolution. Under sexual conflict, the costs of promiscuity are emphasized: scientists investigate if, how, and why males harm females and, as a consequence, how females respond to possibly detrimental interactions. Under parasite-host co-evolution, the benefits of promiscuity in the form of increased genetic offspring diversity are emphasized. Typically, the costs of promiscuity are studied at the immediate level (female fitness and survival) whereas the benefits of promiscuity are studied in future generations (higher offspring diversity, hence higher likelihood of resistant genotypes among the offspring). Here, we want to use the terrestrial nematode Caenorhabditis remanei as a model system to integrate both the immediate and future consequences of promiscuity, bringing together complementary expectations from two fields. We predict that the simultaneous consideration of short and long-term effects will significantly enhance our understanding of why females accept high (immediate) mating costs, even at equilibrium.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Hinrich Schulenburg