DOI: 10.5061/dryad.v8c7f47
title: Data from: Experimentally-induced variation in neuroendocrine processes affects male reproductive behavior, sperm characteristics, and social interactions

description: While extensive research has focused on how social interactions evolve,
 the fitness consequences of the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying these
 interactions have rarely been documented, especially in the wild. Here, we
 measure how the neuroendocrine mechanisms underlying male behavior
 affecting mating success and sperm competition in the ocellated wrasse
 (Symphodus ocellatus). In this species, males exhibit three alternative
 reproductive types. ‘Nesting males’ provide parental care, defend
 territories, and form cooperative associations with unrelated
 ‘satellites’, who cheat by sneaking fertilizations but help by reducing
 sperm competition from ‘sneakers’ who do not cooperate or provide care. To
 measure the fitness consequences of the mechanisms underlying these social
 interactions, we used “phenotypic engineering” that involved administering
 an androgen receptor antagonist (flutamide) to wild, free-living fish.
 Nesting males treated with flutamide shifted their aggression from
 sneakers to satellite males and experienced decreased submissiveness by
 sneaker males (which correlated with decreased nesting male mating
 success). The preoptic area (POA), a region controlling male reproductive
 behaviors, exhibited dramatic down-regulation of androgen receptor (AR)
 and vasotocin 1a receptor (V1aR) mRNA following experimental manipulation
 of androgen signaling. We did not find a direct effect of the manipulation
 on male mating success, paternity or larval production. However, variation
 in neuroendocrine mechanisms generated by the experimental manipulation
 was significantly correlated with changes in behavior and mating success:
 V1aR expression was negatively correlated with satellite-directed
 aggression and expression of its ligand arginine vasotocin (AVT) was
 positively correlated with courtship and mating success, thus revealing
 the potential for sexual selection on these mechanisms.
description: Flut_paper_data_completeFlut_paper_data_complete.csv contains all of the data collected on wild S. ocellatus nesting male (NM) cohorts described in the manuscript, including: animal #, nest location ID, treatment group (V=vehicle, F=flutamide; randomly assigned and blinded prior to analysis of molecular and behavioral data), relative gene expression values by gene and brain region (generated by MCMC qPCR package in R), GSI (g), larval counts, NM larval paternity/ proportion of larvae sired by NM, behavior of nesting male as well as behavior of conspecifics at each nest. "Post" behavioral data are averaged across 3 post-injection observation periods. Detailed methods are described in the manuscript.injection_male_sperm_dataThe file injection_male_sperm_data.csv contains data from the sperm characterization study described in this paper. Data collection is described in detail in the manuscript's Methods section. Males were treated with vehicle or flutamide and three days later sperm were collected, activated, and analyzed for VAP (mean velocity, μm s−1), VSL (straight line velocity, μm s−1), VCL (curvilinear velocity/swimming speed, μm s−1), STR (straightness, %), LIN (linearity, %), Size, Total Count, Motile Count, Slow Count, and Static Count.