Project description
Why males prefer the ‘killer’ widow spiders
In the brown widow spider Latrodectus geometricus, males actively facilitate cannibalism through a specific copulatory posture. Being cannibalised brings them paternity benefits over their non-cannibalised competitors. Males can, however, also mate with immature females few days before their final moult. These immature matings result in successful offspring production, but never in cannibalism. Interestingly, when given a choice, males prefer mating with adult, cannibalistic females over the immature females. The EU-funded Widow Spider Mating project will test the hypothesis that immature mating is costly for the male, suggesting a trade-off between mating rate and reproductive assurance.
Objective
Female widow spiders are frequently cannibalistic, but males of the invasive brown widow spider Latrodectus geometricus can avoid being eaten by mating with immature females that never attack their mating partners. Although immature females are generally assumed unable to mate due to the lack of developed external genitalia, in this species they readily mate and produce offspring at maturity. Nevertheless, despite the benefits arising from immature mating, males consistently prefer to mate with adult, cannibalistic females. Sexual cannibalism is generally considered detrimental for the male, but in L. geometricus it represents a male adaptive strategy which brings advantages in terms of lower female propensity to re-mate. Therefore, its lack in immature mating may come at cost of paternity loss due to female re-mating. I suggests a trade-off between mating rate and reproductive assurance. In the proposed project, I will test the hypothesis that immature mating is costly for the male. I will investigate the mechanism of immature mating as well as ultimate fitness consequences for the male in terms of paternity. I will use a multidisciplinary approach, combining state-of-the-art behavioural, morphological and molecular methods. Utilizing the expertise and infrastructure in two excellent institutions: University of Greifswald and University of Toronto, I will enhance international collaboration and knowledge transfer among research teams. At the University of Greifswald, mating systems are studied by a combination of behavioural and morphological approaches. Using advanced tools to study and visualize internal structures crucial for understanding reproductive biology, I will characterize the morphological mechanisms and structures associated with immature mating. At the University of Toronto, I will use established husbandry infrastructure and molecular techniques to determine behavioural correlates of paternity, and links to female reproductive output.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
17489 Greifswald
Germany
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.