DOI: 10.5061/dryad.xpnvx0kvz
title: Data and code from: The adaptive significance of polyandry: A meta-analysis

description: Polyandry is prevalent, but the optimal patterns of mating for females
 remain poorly understood despite their importance for our understanding of
 sexual selection. We therefore performed a meta-analysis on the female
 fitness consequences of mating with multiple males. Across 166 studies
 spanning 127 arthropod species, we found that mating with more males
 generally enhanced female fecundity and reduced female lifespan. The net
 fitness effects of polyandry, however, were small. Moreover, fecundity
 benefits were not clearly detectable when females mated with more than two
 males. Additionally, we found first that studies assessing partial as
 opposed to lifetime fitness reported greater benefits of polyandry.
 Second, protocols involving selection bias, where females were afforded
 some control over mating rates, reported lower costs of polyandry compared
 to studies without selection bias. Third, polyandry was reported as less
 beneficial in experiments that involved continuous housing of females with
 males. Finally, polyandry was more beneficial in species that transfer
 nuptial gifts. We thus suggest that future polyandry studies aim to
 measure lifetime fitness while also mitigating selection bias and exposure
 of females to excessive harassment. Doing so will help us understand how
 sexual selection operates in both sexes.
description: # Data and code from: The adaptive significance of polyandry: A
 meta-analysis ***The R files contain the code used to produce the figures
 and analyses*** * **cleaning_data.R** - separates the full dataset into
 fecundity and longevity data. It also contains code that generated the
 global model results figure * **fecund_analysis.R** - contains code used
 to produce the fecundity analyses and figures * **longevity_analysis.R**
 - contains code used to produce the fecundity analyses and figures *
 **phylogenetic_analyses.R** - contains code used to produce the
 phylogenetic trees ***R objects*** * **fecund_tree.Rdata** - Stores the
 phylogenetic tree containing all species included in the fecundity
 analyses * **phylo_cor_fecund.Rdata** - Stores the phylogenetic
 correlation matrix used in the fecundity analyses * **long_tree.Rdata**
 - Stores the phylogenetic tree containing all species included in the
 longevity analyses * **phylo_cor_long.Rdata** - Stores the phylogenetic
 correlation matrix used in the longevity analyses ***Data files*** *
 **polyandry_meta_full_dataset.csv** - the full dataset of effect sizes
 included in the meta-analyses * **fecund_data.csv** - the subset of the
 full dataset that includes data on fecundity (eggs or offspring produced);
 this file was used for all fecundity analyses * **long_data.csv** - the
 subset of the full dataset that includes data on longevity; this file was
 used for all longevity analyses * **global_model_results.csv -** file that
 stores the results from the overall models looking at global effect sizes
 for fecundity and longevity; this data was used to generate Figure 1B| *
 **potentially_eligible_papers.xlsx -** spreadsheet used to keep track of
 the papers we screened in detail for inclusion; the full list of included
 papers, along with reasons for exclusions, can be found here ***Variables
 explained*** **Note:** The **fecund.csv** and **long_data.csv** are
 subsets of the **polyandry_meta_full_dataset.csv** file. Therefore, the
 variables defined below mean the same thing across the three datasets. In
 these files, NAs mean "not available", which indicate when
 specific data were not reported by a study.  * **source** - the study that
 an effect size was extracted from * **species** - species used to generate
 effect size * **order** - taxonomic order of the species * **harass?** -
 whether the effect size was derived from an experiment that involved
 continuous housing of males with females; binary categorical variable
 where y = yes and n = no * **nup_gift?** - whether the species used to
 generate the effect size transfers nuptial gifts; binary categorical
 variable where y = yes and n = no * **lifetime?** - whether the study
 assessed lifetime reproductive success (as opposed to partial lifetime
 reproductive success); binary categorical variable where y = yes and n =
 no * **bias?** - whether the study involved selection bias; binary
 categorical variable where y = yes and n = no * **treatment** - the degree
 of polyandry experienced by females being compared; the lower mating rate
 is always listed first, followed by an underscore and then the higher
 mating rate * **experiment** - used to distinguish between multiple
 experiments within the same published study  * **study** - a number
 assigned to each distinct published study included in the meta-analysis *
 **con_N** - sample size for females in the control group (the treatment
 that mated with fewer males) * **exp_N** - sample size for females in the
 experimental group (the treatment that mated with more males) *
 **adjusted_con_N** - adjusted control sample size to take into account
 shared control non-independence (when multiple effect sizes used the same
 control group); this value comes from dividing the original sample size
 with the number of times this control group was used as a reference *
 **con_long** - lifespan of females in the control group (typically in
 days) * **con_long_SD** - standard deviation for lifespan of females in
 the control group * **exp_long** -  lifespan of females in the
 experimental group (typically in days) * **exp_long_SD** - standard
 deviation for lifespan of females in the experimental group *
 **con_fecund** - fecundity (number of eggs laid) of females in the control
 group * **con_fecund_SD** - standard deviation for fecundity of females in
 the control group * **exp_fecund** -  fecundity (number of eggs laid) of
 females in the experimental group * **exp_fecund_SD** - standard deviation
 for fecundity of females in the experimental group * **con_fert** -
 fertility (number of offspring produced) of females in the control group *
 **con_fert_SD** - standard deviation for fertility of females in the
 control group * **exp_fert** -  fertility (number of offspring produced)
 of females in the experimental group * **exp_fert_SD** - standard
 deviation for fertility of females in the experimental group Variables in
 the **global_model_results.csv** file. In general, this file stores the
 results from our global effect size model which can be found in the R
 files. We created this csv file only for the purpose of data
 visualization.  * **fitness_measure**: categorical variable noting whether
 the mean effect size is for fecundity or longevity * **estimate:** the
 estimated average effect size (log response ratio) for the effect of
 mating with a relatively greater number of males * **ci.lb:** Lower bound
 of the 95% confidence interval for each estimated average effect size *
 **ci.ub:** Upper bound of the 95% confidence interval for each estimated
 average effect size **potentially_eligible_papers.xlsx** file explained:
 **Scan 1 (first sheet):** Includes the list of 424 potentially eligible
 papers that were read in depth during stage two of our screening process
 (except for the two known studies from our research group: Yan et al. 2024
 and Yan et al. 2025). Red-highlighted rows represent excluded studies,
 while green-highlighted rows represent included papers. * **Source -**
 Denotes which database identified the study (Google Scholar, Web of
 Science (WOS), or the prior polyandry meta-analyses) * **Authors -**
 Authors of the published study * **Screened by -** Denotes which of this
 current study's author screened the study for inclusion * **Full
 citation -** Full reference for the study **Scan 2 (excluded papers)
 (second sheet):** List of the 256 potentially eligible papers that were
 excluded from the meta-analysis. The "Reference" column denotes
 the study, while the "Reason for exclusion" column provides a
 short explanation for why the study was not included. **Final paper list
 (third sheet):** Includes the full list of the 166 studies that were
 eventually included in the meta-analysis. The studies are listed in
 alphabetical order. ### Code/software All of the analyses were conducted
 using R. The packages used and what each package was used for can be found
 at the beginning of each R script.