Dsimulans_matechoice {ecoteach} | R Documentation |
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)
Source
Nöbel, Sabine and Kaufmann, Tim (2025). Data from: Mate copying in Drosophila simulans. Dryad Digital Repository. doi:10.5061/DRYAD.ZS7H44JMC
Examples
# 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)")