DOI: 10.5061/dryad.v9s4mw77g
title: Data from: Exposure to rivals does not affect male mate choice in <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em>

description: Male-male competition can affect male mate choice in different ways,
 potentially leading to stronger preferences when males benefit from
 investing more resources in fewer, but higher-quality matings, or weaker
 preferences if choosiness could lead to missed mating opportunities. As in
 many insects, Drosophila melanogaster males show both pre- and
 postcopulatory preferences for larger, higher-fecundity females. Exposure
 to rivals alters some aspects of male courtship and mating behavior in
 this species, but it is unknown whether male mate choice is similarly
 affected by increased competition. We tested whether perceived competition
 influenced the strength of male precopulatory and postcopulatory
 preferences for large females by housing D. melanogaster males with or
 without rivals before they encountered females that differed in size.
 Males from both treatments exhibited equally strong courtship preferences
 for large females and extended matings to a similar degree with large
 versus small females, indicating that exposure to rivals did not affect
 these components of male mate choice. There was also no difference in
 offspring production between males from the two treatments. Our findings
 suggest that male preferences for large females are relatively stable
 across social environments in D. melanogaster, supporting the hypothesis
 that strong, consistent preferences for high-quality mates can be
 maintained despite variation in competitive contexts.
description: # Data from: Exposure to rivals does not affect male mate choice in
 *Drosophila melanogaster* ## Description of the data and file structure
 **SoloCourt_R.csv** *Data from Experiment 1* “Date” = the date the data
 were collected “Block” = the corresponding experimental block “Observer” =
 the observer collecting the data "Treatment" = the male
 experimental treatment ("Group" = Rivals treatment,
 "Solo" = No Rivals treatment) “Vial” = the vial label for that
 male during that block "CourtStart" = the minute that courtship
 was first observed “TotalMinCourt” = the total number of minutes the male
 spent courting "MinNotCourt" = the total number of minutes the
 male did not court (for males that mated, this only included minutes up to
 the time that mating began) "Duration" = the duration of mating
 in minutes. If blank, the male did not mate or the data were lost
 "TotalUnitsCourt" = the total courtship units for the male
 (i.e., TotalMinCourt*2, used to calculate proportion of courtship directed
 toward the large female) "UnitsCourtL" = the courtship units
 directed to the large female by the male "UnitsNotCourtL" = the
 courtship units directed to toward the small female by the male
 "MinCourtMatedF" = the total number of courtship minutes
 directed toward the female that the male ultimately mated with. If blank,
 the male did not mate. "FemMatedBin" = the size of the female
 the male mated, coded in binary (1 = large, 0 = small). If blank, the male
 did not mate. "MateSuccessBin" = Whether or not the male mated
 (with either female), coded in binary (1 = Yes, 0 = No)
 "FemMated" = the size of the female the male mated
 ("L" = large, "S" = small) **SoloMate_R** *Mating Data
 from Experiment 2* “Block” = the experimental block “Observer” = the
 observer collecting the data "Treatment" = the male experimental
 treatment ("Group" = Rivals treatment, "Solo" = No
 Rivals treatment) “Vial” = the vial label for that male during that block
 "FemSize" = the size of the female the male was paired with
 "Duration" = the duration of mating in minutes. If blank, the
 male did not mate "Mated" = Whether or not the male mated
 ("Y" = Yes, "N" = No) "MatedBin" = Whether
 or not the male mated, coded in binary (1 = Yes, 0 = No) **SoloOffsp_R**
 *Offspring data from the second block of Experiment 2* “Date” = the date
 the data were collected “Observer” = the observer who collected the mating
 data (not used for this analysis) "Treatment" = the male
 experimental treatment ("Group" = Rivals treatment,
 "Solo" = No Rivals treatment) “Vial” = the vial label for that
 male during that block "FemSize" = the size of the female
 producing offspring ("L" = large, "S" = small)
 "Offspring" = the total number of offspring produced by the
 female. If blank, the data were lost. ## Sharing/Access information Links
 to other publicly accessible locations of the data: N/A Data was derived
 from the following sources: N/A ## Code/Software ##### R scripts for all
 models: All analyses performed using R 4.5.1 and the following packages:
 glmmTMB 1.1.11 DHARMa 0.4.7 emmeans 1.11.1 car 3.1.3 **SoloCourt.R** R
 code for the following analyses using the data from Experiment 1 in
 SoloCourt_R.csv: * the Poisson GLMM testing for an effect of male
 treatment on courtship latency * the binomial GLMM testing for an effect
 of male treatment on courtship effort * the binomial GLMM testing for an
 effect of male treatment on mating success * the Poisson GLMM testing the
 full-factorial effects of male treatment and the size of the female mated
 on the male courtship threshold to mate (and associated pairwise tests) *
 the binomial GLMM testing for an effect of male treatment on the
 proportion of courtship directed toward the large female (and associated
 1-sample Wald z-tests testing for a male preference within each treatment)
 * the binomial GLMM testing for an effect of male treatment on the size of
 the female mated * the linear mixed model testing the full-factorial
 effects of male treatment and the size of the female mated on mating
 duration (and associated pairwise tests) **SoloMate.R** R code for the
 following analyses using the data from Experiment 2 in SoloMate_R.csv: *
 the binomial GLMM testing the full-factorial effects of male treatment and
 the size of the female mated on male mating success (and associated
 pairwise tests) * the linear mixed model testing the full-factorial
 effects of male treatment and the size of the female mated on mating
 duration (and associated pairwise tests) **SoloOffsp.R** R code for the
 following analyses using the data from Experiment 2 in SoloOffsp_R.csv: *
 the negative binomial GLMM testing the full-factorial effects of male
 treatment and the size of the female mated on offspring production(and
 associated pairwise tests)