ecoteach (version 0.1.0)

Dsimulans_matechoice: Mate Copying in Drosophila simulans

Description

A dataset containing observations of mate choice decisions of Drosophila simulans females from three different populations to test whether they copy the mate choice of their conspecifics. The study tested whether female fruit flies acquire a sexual preference for a particular trait of a male after observing a single mating event. The experimental protocol involved a naïve, unmated female first observing a conspecific's mate choice between one artificially colored green and one artificially colored pink male, and subsequently being allowed to choose between two males of the same phenotype herself.

Usage

Dsimulans_matechoice

Format

A data frame with 383 rows and 14 variables:

Experimentor

Who conducted the experiment (SN: Sabine Nöbel, TK: Tim Kaufmann)

Date

Date of the experiment

TimeDemo

Beginning time of the experiment

Chamber

Position in the experimental box (A-F)

Device

Number of the experimental set-up

Strain

Fly population: Haale (Saale), Maison Salasar, or Deyme

Treatment

Experimental treatment: Mate copying (informed) or Control (uninformed)

Temp

Temperature (°C) in the experimental room

Humidity

Humidity (%) in the experimental room

ColourDemo

Color of the male copulating in the demonstration: Green or Pink

Colour1Court

Color of the male that started the first courtship: Green or Pink

Colour2Court

Color of the male that started the second courtship: Green or Pink

ColourTest

Color of the male copulating in the test phase: Green or Pink

MCS

Mate-copying score: "Same color" (observer female chose the same colored male as the demonstrator) or "Different color" (observer female chose a different colored male than the demonstrator)

Examples

# \donttest{
# Load the dataset
data(Dsimulans_matechoice)

# Basic exploration
head(Dsimulans_matechoice)
summary(Dsimulans_matechoice)

# Examine mate copying rates by treatment
table(Dsimulans_matechoice$Treatment, Dsimulans_matechoice$MCS)

# Compare mate copying across different strains (using base R)
mosaicplot(table(Dsimulans_matechoice$Strain, Dsimulans_matechoice$MCS),
           main = "Mate choice outcomes by strain",
           color = c("lightblue", "salmon"))
           
# Analyze if environmental conditions affect mate copying
boxplot(Temp ~ MCS, data = Dsimulans_matechoice, 
        main = "Temperature effects on mate copying",
        ylab = "Temperature (°C)")
# }