In order to understand why animals have evolved to behave in the ways that they do, it is necessary to understand the function of their behaviors within particular social or ecological contexts. A basic idea about male mating behavior is that in species where single females are abundant, males will mate with several females, but in species where females are rare, males will mate monogamously and may physically defend their mate from other males. However, the value of this generality is weakened because the varied species used to make such a comparison differ in many biologically significant ways that may also affect their mating behavior. Dr. Charnov and his student, Mr. Carroll, have chosen to study a single species of semi-social insect, which in some habitats has equal numbers of the sexes and in other habitats has many more males than females. The investigators will compare the mating behavior of males between the two habitats to see whether the insects have evolved the responses to female availability that the theory predicts, and thereby provide a more direct test of the theory than has been possible with multi-species comparisons. In addition to testing theoretical predictions in an active area of biology, the research will focus attention on the importance of studying differences between individuals within insect species, rather than simply lumping variations into the species-wide averages and generalities that have often typified the study of economically important insects. Greater understanding of such differences is likely to lead to the identification of key points in the life cycle at which control measures can be taken with minimal impact on the environment.
