Publications by category
Journal articles
Cook N, Boulton RA, Green J, Trivedi U, Tauber E, Pannebakker BA, Ritchie MG, Shuker DM (In Press). Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. Royal Society Open Science
Boulton RA, Heimpel GE (In Press). Mind the Gap: the evolution of oviposition site and specialization in the parasitoid superfamily Chalcidoidea. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Boulton RA, Shuker DM (In Press). Polyandry is context dependent but not convenient in a mostly monandrous wasp.
Animal Behaviour Full text.
Martel V, Shuker DM, Boulton RA, Damiens D, Boivin G (In Press). Sex allocation and the evolution of insemination capacity under local mate competition. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata
Boulton RA, Cook N, Greenway EV, Glaser GL, Green J, Shuker DM (2019). Local mate competition modifies the costs of mating in a mostly monandrous parasitoid wasp.
Behavioral Ecology,
30(2), 417-425.
Abstract:
Local mate competition modifies the costs of mating in a mostly monandrous parasitoid wasp
The costs and benefits of mating are frequently measured in order to understand why females mate multiply. However, to separate the factors that initiate the evolution of polyandry (from monandry) from the factors that maintain it, we must ascertain how the environmental context changes the economics of mating. Here, we show how context-dependent costs of mating can lead to the evolution of polyandry in a species that is monandrous in the wild, the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. We have previously shown that when females have insufficient time between mating and gaining access to hosts for oviposition, they appear unable to process sperm effectively and end up overproducing sons (i.e. laying unfertilized eggs, since Nasonia is in haplodiploid). This overproduction of sons is costly due to selection on sex allocation in this species. Although N. vitripennis is monandrous in the wild, polyandry evolves under laboratory culture despite this sex allocation cost. In this study, we show why: When groups of females oviposit together, as they do in laboratory culture, selection on sex allocation via local mate competition (LMC) is reduced, increasing the reproductive value of sons. This relaxes the fitness cost of male production. Overproduction of sons still occurs, but it is penalized less in terms of fitness than when females oviposit alone, under high LMC conditions, as they typically do in the field. Our results highlight how the costs and benefits of mating can vary under different ecologically relevant conditions, in this case the spatiotemporal distribution of resources and competitors, promoting the evolution of polyandry from monandry, and vice versa.
Abstract.
Boulton RA, Zuk M, Shuker DM (2018). An Inconvenient Truth: the Unconsidered Benefits of Convenience Polyandry.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution,
33(12), 904-915.
Abstract:
An Inconvenient Truth: the Unconsidered Benefits of Convenience Polyandry
Polyandry, or multiple mating by females with different males, is commonplace. One explanation is that females engage in convenience polyandry, mating multiple times to reduce the costs of sexual harassment. Although the logic underlying convenience polyandry is clear, and harassment often seems to influence mating outcomes, it has not been subjected to as thorough theoretical or empirical attention as other explanations for polyandry. We re-examine here convenience polyandry in the light of new studies demonstrating previously unconsidered benefits of polyandry. We suggest that true convenience polyandry is likely to be a fleeting phenomenon, even though it can profoundly shape mating-system evolution via potential feedback loops between resistance to males and the costs and benefits of mating.
Abstract.
Bulgarella M, Quiroga MA, Boulton RA, Ramírez IE, Moon RD, Causton CE, Heimpel GE (2017). Life Cycle and Host Specificity of the Parasitoid Conura annulifera (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae), a Potential Biological Control Agent of Philornis downsi (Diptera: Muscidae) in the Galápagos Islands. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 110(3), 317-328.
Boulton RA, Cook N, Green J, (Ginny) Greenway EV, Shuker DM (2017). Sperm blocking is not a male adaptation to sperm competition in a parasitoid wasp. Behavioral Ecology, 29(1), 253-263.
Boulton RA, Shuker DM (2015). A sex allocation cost to polyandry in a parasitoid wasp.
Biology Letters,
11(6), 20150205-20150205.
Abstract:
A sex allocation cost to polyandry in a parasitoid wasp
. The costs and benefits of polyandry are central to understanding the near-ubiquity of female multiple mating. Here, we present evidence of a novel cost of polyandry: disrupted sex allocation. In
. Nasonia vitripennis
. a species that is monandrous in the wild but engages in polyandry under laboratory culture conditions, sexual harassment during oviposition results in increased production of sons under conditions that favour female-biased sex ratios. In addition, females more likely to re-mate under harassment produce the least female-biased sex ratios, and these females are unable to mitigate this cost by increasing offspring production. Our results therefore argue that polyandry does not serve to mitigate the costs of harassment (convenience polyandry) in
. Nasonia
. Furthermore, because males benefit from female-biased offspring sex ratios, harassment of ovipositing females also creates a novel cost of that harassment for males.
.
Abstract.
Boulton RA, Fletcher AW (2015). Do mothers prefer helpers or smaller litters? Birth sex ratio and litter size adjustment in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Ecology and Evolution, 5(3), 598-606.
Boulton RA, Shuker DM (2015). The costs and benefits of multiple mating in a mostly monandrous wasp.
Evolution,
69(4), 939-949.
Full text.
Boulton RA, Collins LA, Shuker DM (2014). Beyond sex allocation: the role of mating systems in sexual selection in parasitoid wasps.
Biological Reviews,
90(2), 599-627.
Full text.
Boulton RA, Ross C (2013). Measuring facial symmetry in the wild: a case study in Olive Baboons (Papio anubis). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 67(4), 699-707.
Boulton RA, Shuker DM (2013). Polyandry. Current Biology, 23(24), R1080-R1081.
Chapters
Hardy ICW, Boulton RA (2018). Sex allocation, sex ratios and reproduction. In (Ed) Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior.
Publications by year
In Press
Cook N, Boulton RA, Green J, Trivedi U, Tauber E, Pannebakker BA, Ritchie MG, Shuker DM (In Press). Differential gene expression is not required for facultative sex allocation: a transcriptome analysis of brain tissue in the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. Royal Society Open Science
Boulton RA, Heimpel GE (In Press). Mind the Gap: the evolution of oviposition site and specialization in the parasitoid superfamily Chalcidoidea. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
Boulton RA, Shuker DM (In Press). Polyandry is context dependent but not convenient in a mostly monandrous wasp.
Animal Behaviour Full text.
Martel V, Shuker DM, Boulton RA, Damiens D, Boivin G (In Press). Sex allocation and the evolution of insemination capacity under local mate competition. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata
2019
Boulton RA, Cook N, Greenway EV, Glaser GL, Green J, Shuker DM (2019). Local mate competition modifies the costs of mating in a mostly monandrous parasitoid wasp.
Behavioral Ecology,
30(2), 417-425.
Abstract:
Local mate competition modifies the costs of mating in a mostly monandrous parasitoid wasp
The costs and benefits of mating are frequently measured in order to understand why females mate multiply. However, to separate the factors that initiate the evolution of polyandry (from monandry) from the factors that maintain it, we must ascertain how the environmental context changes the economics of mating. Here, we show how context-dependent costs of mating can lead to the evolution of polyandry in a species that is monandrous in the wild, the parasitoid wasp Nasonia vitripennis. We have previously shown that when females have insufficient time between mating and gaining access to hosts for oviposition, they appear unable to process sperm effectively and end up overproducing sons (i.e. laying unfertilized eggs, since Nasonia is in haplodiploid). This overproduction of sons is costly due to selection on sex allocation in this species. Although N. vitripennis is monandrous in the wild, polyandry evolves under laboratory culture despite this sex allocation cost. In this study, we show why: When groups of females oviposit together, as they do in laboratory culture, selection on sex allocation via local mate competition (LMC) is reduced, increasing the reproductive value of sons. This relaxes the fitness cost of male production. Overproduction of sons still occurs, but it is penalized less in terms of fitness than when females oviposit alone, under high LMC conditions, as they typically do in the field. Our results highlight how the costs and benefits of mating can vary under different ecologically relevant conditions, in this case the spatiotemporal distribution of resources and competitors, promoting the evolution of polyandry from monandry, and vice versa.
Abstract.
2018
Boulton RA, Zuk M, Shuker DM (2018). An Inconvenient Truth: the Unconsidered Benefits of Convenience Polyandry.
Trends in Ecology and Evolution,
33(12), 904-915.
Abstract:
An Inconvenient Truth: the Unconsidered Benefits of Convenience Polyandry
Polyandry, or multiple mating by females with different males, is commonplace. One explanation is that females engage in convenience polyandry, mating multiple times to reduce the costs of sexual harassment. Although the logic underlying convenience polyandry is clear, and harassment often seems to influence mating outcomes, it has not been subjected to as thorough theoretical or empirical attention as other explanations for polyandry. We re-examine here convenience polyandry in the light of new studies demonstrating previously unconsidered benefits of polyandry. We suggest that true convenience polyandry is likely to be a fleeting phenomenon, even though it can profoundly shape mating-system evolution via potential feedback loops between resistance to males and the costs and benefits of mating.
Abstract.
Hardy ICW, Boulton RA (2018). Sex allocation, sex ratios and reproduction. In (Ed) Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior.
2017
Bulgarella M, Quiroga MA, Boulton RA, Ramírez IE, Moon RD, Causton CE, Heimpel GE (2017). Life Cycle and Host Specificity of the Parasitoid Conura annulifera (Hymenoptera: Chalcididae), a Potential Biological Control Agent of Philornis downsi (Diptera: Muscidae) in the Galápagos Islands. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 110(3), 317-328.
Boulton RA, Cook N, Green J, (Ginny) Greenway EV, Shuker DM (2017). Sperm blocking is not a male adaptation to sperm competition in a parasitoid wasp. Behavioral Ecology, 29(1), 253-263.
2015
Boulton RA, Shuker DM (2015). A sex allocation cost to polyandry in a parasitoid wasp.
Biology Letters,
11(6), 20150205-20150205.
Abstract:
A sex allocation cost to polyandry in a parasitoid wasp
. The costs and benefits of polyandry are central to understanding the near-ubiquity of female multiple mating. Here, we present evidence of a novel cost of polyandry: disrupted sex allocation. In
. Nasonia vitripennis
. a species that is monandrous in the wild but engages in polyandry under laboratory culture conditions, sexual harassment during oviposition results in increased production of sons under conditions that favour female-biased sex ratios. In addition, females more likely to re-mate under harassment produce the least female-biased sex ratios, and these females are unable to mitigate this cost by increasing offspring production. Our results therefore argue that polyandry does not serve to mitigate the costs of harassment (convenience polyandry) in
. Nasonia
. Furthermore, because males benefit from female-biased offspring sex ratios, harassment of ovipositing females also creates a novel cost of that harassment for males.
.
Abstract.
Boulton RA, Fletcher AW (2015). Do mothers prefer helpers or smaller litters? Birth sex ratio and litter size adjustment in cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus). Ecology and Evolution, 5(3), 598-606.
Boulton RA, Shuker DM (2015). The costs and benefits of multiple mating in a mostly monandrous wasp.
Evolution,
69(4), 939-949.
Full text.
2014
Boulton RA, Collins LA, Shuker DM (2014). Beyond sex allocation: the role of mating systems in sexual selection in parasitoid wasps.
Biological Reviews,
90(2), 599-627.
Full text.
2013
Boulton RA, Ross C (2013). Measuring facial symmetry in the wild: a case study in Olive Baboons (Papio anubis). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 67(4), 699-707.
Boulton RA, Shuker DM (2013). Polyandry. Current Biology, 23(24), R1080-R1081.
