DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f1vhhmh6v
title: Heroic heirs: evidence for sexy and competitive sons

description: Leks are the quintessential example of female mate choice, yet male-male
 interactions at leks may predominate. How, and how much, female mate
 choice versus male-male competition contribute to precopulatory sexual
 selection, including whether they are aligned or antagonistic, matters to
 theory and our understanding of how selection acts on both males and
 females. For example, if male-male competition predominates and selection
 favours harmful, dominant males, then female and population fitness may be
 compromised. Here, using Drosophila melanogaster, we performed two
 artificial selection experiments in parallel where we altered selection to
 favour male-male competition (selection for winners and losers in
 multi-male competition trials) or female mate choice (selection for
 winners and losers in single-male latency trials). After seven generations
 of selection, males from winner-selected lines had higher mating success
 than males from loser-selected lines in both competitive and
 non-competitive arenas. Our results support the idea that the outcomes of
 male-male competition and female choice are aligned or that one process
 dominates the other.
description: # Heroic heirs: evidence for sexy and competitive sons Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.f1vhhmh6v](10.5061/dryad.f1vhhmh6v) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Data for: **Heroic heirs: evidence for sexy and
 competitive sons** Authors: Nirjana Dewan, W. Jason Kennington, Joseph L.
 Tomkins, Robert J. Dugand NOTE:  Variables present in more than one sheet
 are marked with an asterisk(*) NOTE: The different combinations of the
 variables 'context' and 'quality' make up the
 treatment variable, of which there are 4 categories;
 'competitive' (context - MMC present, quality - winner),
 'non-competitive' (context - MMC present, quality - loser),
 'attractive' (context - MMC absent, quality - winner) and
 'unattractive' (context - MMC absent, quality - loser). The
 variable 'treatment' itself is not present in the csv files but
 has been used to define other variables, for e.g., line.   ### Files and
 variables #### File: Egg\_to\_adult\_viability.csv **Description:** csv
 file containing fixed/random variables used to analyse egg-to-adult
 viability and mating success of inbred/outbred crosses. ##### Variables *
 block* (categorical): block ID. * context* (categorical): whether
 male-male competition was present in the selection environment; MMC
 present = male-male competition present, MMC absent = male-male
 competitionn absent. * quality* (categorical): whether selection lines
 were success-selected or failure-selected; winners = success-selected,
 losers = failure-selected. * line* (categorical): refers to the the
 selection line (treatment nested witin block). * vial (categorical):
 identification for replicates (nested within line).  * male_family
 (categorical): the family which the experimental male was sourced from. *
 cross (categorical): whether the family was inbred or outbred.  * mate
 (categorical): whether mating was observed; 0 = no mating, 1 = mating
 occurred. * eggs (numerical): number of eggs counted.  * adults
 (numerical): number of adults counted. * dead (numerical): the number of
 eggs which failed to develop into adults (number of eggs - number of
 adults).  #### File: Male\_attractiveness.csv **Description:** a csv file
 containing fixed/random variables used to analyse male attractiveness.
 ##### Variables * F_vial (categorical): identification of vials that
 housed non-virgin females. * mated_not (categorical): males were scored 1
 (successful) or 0 (unsuccessful) at the 0.33 quantile in each block (i.e.,
 males were scored as 1 if they were in the top 0.33 for their block, and 0
 if outside the top 0.33). * mate33 (continuous): block-mean standardised
 data of the mating latency in seconds, based on 'males_not'
 data. Males that were scored 1 (top 0.33 of their respective block)
 retained the actual mating latency time (in seconds) and these values were
 then block- mean standardised (by diving mating latency of each succesful
 male by mean mating time of all successful males within each block). Males
 that were scored 0 were assigned mating latency time of 18000 seconds (the
 maximum duration of mating trial). #### File:
 Male-male\_competitive\_ability.csv **Description:** a csv file containing
 fixed/random variables used to analyse male-male competitive ability.
 ##### Variables * male_vial (categorical): identification of vials which
 housed selected males. * win_id (categorical): the identity of the winning
 male in the competitive assay; 0 = blue standard male, 1 = selected male.
 * sec2mate2 (continuous): block-mean standardised values of mating
 latency, in seconds.  #### File: Wing\_length.csv **Description:** a csv
 file containing fixed/random variables used to analyse male wing length.
 ##### Variables * vial (categorical): identification for replicates.  *
 wing_length (continuous): measured as the distance, in mm, between the
 intersection of the anterior cross vein and the longitudinal vein, and the
 intersection of the longitudinal vein with the distal wing margin.