02596nas a2200229   4500008004100000245011400041210006900155260026000224300001600484490000700500520164700507653001802154653001302172653001102185653001502196653002102211100002202232700002302254700001502277700001902292856005502311       2008                        eng d00aEXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE THAT SEXUAL CONFLICT INFLUENCES THE OPPORTUNITY, FORM AND INTENSITY OF SEXUAL SELECTION0 aEXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE THAT SEXUAL CONFLICT INFLUENCES THE OPPORT  aEvolution & Ecology Research Centre and School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia; E-mail: m.hall@student.unsw.edu.au; Zoologisches Museum der Universitt Zrich, Winterthure  a2305–23150 v623 aSexual interactions are often rife with conflict. Conflict between members of the same sex over opportunities to mate has long been understood to effect evolution via sexual selection. Although conflict between males and females is now understood to be widespread, such conflict is seldom considered in the same light as a general agent of sexual selection. Any interaction between males or females that generates variation in fitness, whether due to conflict, competition or mate choice, can potentially influence sexual selection acting on a range of male traits. Here we seek to address a lack of direct experimental evidence for how sexual conflict influences sexual selection more broadly. We manipulate a major source of sexual conflict in the black field cricket, Teleogryllus commodus, and quantify the resulting changes in the nature of sexual selection using formal selection analysis to statistically compare multivariate fitness surfaces. In T. commodus, sexual conflict occurs over the attachment time of an external spermatophore. By experimentally manipulating the ability of males and females to influence spermatophore attachment, we found that sexual conflict significantly influences the opportunity, form, and intensity of sexual selection on male courtship call and body size. When males were able to harass females, the opportunity for selection was smaller, the form of selection changed, and sexual selection was weaker. We discuss the broader evolutionary implications of these findings, including the contributions of sexual conflict to fluctuating sexual selection and the maintenance of additive genetic variation.10acommunication10acrickets10amating10aorthoptera10asexual-selection1 aHall, Matthew, D.1 aBussière, Luc, F.1 aHunt, John1 aBrooks, Robert  uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00436.x01970nas a2200229   4500008004100000245010000041210006900141260000900210300001600219490000800235520130900243653001701552653001801569653000701587653001501594653001501609653000901624653001801633100002401651700002001675856004501695       2008                        eng d00aDevelopmental plasticity of mating calls enables acoustic communication in diverse environments0 aDevelopmental plasticity of mating calls enables acoustic commun  cJune  a1243–12480 v2753 a10.1098/rspb.2007.1765 Male calls of the katydid exhibit substantial developmental plasticity in two parameters: (i) calls of winter males are continuous and lack the verse structure of summer calls and (ii) at equal temperatures, summer males produce calls with a substantially higher pulse rate than winter males. We raised female under conditions that reliably induced either summer or winter phenotype and tested their preferences for the call parameters that differ between summer and winter males. Neither generation was selective for the presence of verses, but females had strong preferences for pulse rates: only a narrow range of pulse rates was attractive. The attractive ranges did not differ between summer and winter females. Both male pulse rate and female preference for pulse rate changed with ambient temperature, but female preference changed more than the male calls. As a result, the summer call was attractive only at 25°C, whereas the slower winter call was attractive only at 20°C. Thus, developmental plasticity of male calls compensates for differences in temperature dependency between calls and preferences and enables the communication system to function in heterogeneous environments. The potential role of call plasticity during the invasion of new habitats is discussed.10abioacoustics10acommunication10ana10aorthoptera10aplasticity10asong10atettigoniidae1 aBeckers, Oliver, M.1 aSchul, Johannes  uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2007.176502114nas a2200265   4500008004100000022001400041245009400055210006900149260001400218300001600232490000800248520134700256653001401603653001701617653001801634653001701652653001701669653001201686653001501698100002201713700002301735700002201758700002301780856004501803       2008                        eng d  a0962-845200aEvolutionarily conserved coding properties of auditory neurons across grasshopper species0 aEvolutionarily conserved coding properties of auditory neurons a  cSeptember  a1965–19740 v2753 a10.1098/rspb.2008.0527 We investigated encoding properties of identified auditory interneurons in two not closely related grasshopper species (Acrididae). The neurons can be homologized on the basis of their similar morphologies and physiologies. As test stimuli, we used the species-specific stridulation signals of , which evidently are not relevant for the other species, . We recorded spike trains produced in response to these signals from several neuron types at the first levels of the auditory pathway in both species. Using a spike train metric to quantify differences between neuronal responses, we found a high similarity in the responses of homologous neurons: interspecific differences between the responses of homologous neurons in the two species were not significantly larger than intraspecific differences (between several specimens of a neuron in one species). These results suggest that the elements of the thoracic auditory pathway have been strongly conserved during the evolutionary divergence of these species. According to the 'efficient coding' hypothesis, an adaptation of the thoracic auditory pathway to the specific needs of acoustic communication could be expected. We conclude that there must have been stabilizing selective forces at work that conserved coding characteristics and prevented such an adaptation.10aacrididae10abioacoustics10acommunication10agrasshoppers10ainterneurons10aneurons10aorthoptera1 aNeuhofer, Daniela1 aWohlgemuth, Sandra1 aStumpner, Andreas1 aRonacher, Bernhard  uhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0527