Sperm length ornamentation associates with survival and sterility after heatwaves among Drosophila species
- 1University of Liverpool
Abstract
Whether sexual selection facilitates or hinders adaptation to novel environments is a question of fundamental importance due to current rapid environmental change. Using phylogenetic comparative analysis in 42 Drosophila species, we found that sperm length - a sexually selected ornament - positively associates with the ability of males to survive high temperatures. However, the ability to remain fertile does not increase with sperm length to the same extent, meaning that longer sperm species experience a larger gap between temperatures that kill and temperatures that sterilize males. The findings are consistent with the idea that strong sexual selection on condition-dependent exaggerated traits may facilitate somatic resilience to environmental stressors, but that susceptibility to heat-induced infertility may be a cost of extreme sperm ornamentation. Overall, the data suggests multifaceted links between postcopulatory sexual selection and climate change.
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BibTeX
@misc{marquezrosado2026sperm,
title = {{Sperm length ornamentation associates with survival and sterility after heatwaves among Drosophila species}},
author = {A. Marquez-Rosado and L. R. Dougherty and W.-Y. Choi and R. A. Gomez and C. Mitchell and S. Pitnick and S. Wigby},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.64898/2026.10.08.757264},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.08.757264v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Sperm length ornamentation associates with survival and sterility after heatwaves among Drosophila species
AU - A. Marquez-Rosado
AU - L. R. Dougherty
AU - W.-Y. Choi
AU - R. A. Gomez
AU - C. Mitchell
AU - S. Pitnick
AU - S. Wigby
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.10.08.757264
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.08.757264v1
AB - Whether sexual selection facilitates or hinders adaptation to novel environments is a question of fundamental importance due to current rapid environmental change. Using phylogenetic comparative analysis in 42 Drosophila species, we found that sperm length - a sexually selected ornament - positively associates with the ability of males to survive high temperatures. However, the ability to remain fertile does not increase with sperm length to the same extent, meaning that longer sperm species experience a larger gap between temperatures that kill and temperatures that sterilize males. The findings are consistent with the idea that strong sexual selection on condition-dependent exaggerated traits may facilitate somatic resilience to environmental stressors, but that susceptibility to heat-induced infertility may be a cost of extreme sperm ornamentation. Overall, the data suggests multifaceted links between postcopulatory sexual selection and climate change.
ER -