Warm waters undermine cryptic female choice
Data files
Jan 15, 2026 version files 15.90 MB
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Alonzo_et_al_Nature_Comm_2016_data.csv
774 B
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DateEX.csv
560 B
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README.md
4.30 KB
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session_info.txt
2.73 KB
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STARESO_2.5mDeep_HOBO_Corse23.csv
255.97 KB
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Temp_CFC_Data.csv
15.63 MB
Abstract
(1) Understanding the thermal sensitivity of reproductive interactions is crucial given global warming. Previous studies have almost exclusively focused on interactions before mating, even though important interactions between the sexes also occur after mating (e.g., gamete interactions), which are likely affected by temperature.
(2) Thus, it remains unknown how temperature affects the influence of female reproductive fluid on sperm performance, thereby altering female control over fertilization (cryptic female choice). This gap limits our understanding of how sexual selection changes with seasonal temperature fluctuations and temperatures outside the range of historical norms.
(3) We tested how temperatures relevant to current conditions and climate change projections influence the mechanisms underlying cryptic female choice in a marine fish, Symphodus ocellatus. Under typical thermal conditions, female reproductive fluid enhances sperm velocity and biases fertilization dynamics to favor preferred, dominant males over sneaker males.
(4) We find that warmer temperatures decrease female influence on sperm velocity, especially for dominant males. This results in dominant males having slower sperm than sneaker males at warmer temperatures, reducing the expected paternity of preferred, dominant males.
(5) Our results highlight that considering the thermal sensitivity of female-male interactions that occur after mating will be essential for understanding how seasonal variation and climate change can influence fertility, reproduction, and sexual selection.
Description of code and data files affiliated with "Warm waters undermine cryptic female choice" by Matthew C. Kustra, Louise M. Alissa, Michaela M. Rogers, Megan M. Molinari, Kelly A. Stiver, Susan Marsh-Rollo, Jennifer K. Hellmann, and Suzanne H. Alonzo
For questions, contact: matthewckustra@gmail.com
To properly run the code, make sure all data files are in the same directory as the code "Figures_Analysis.R"*
Below is a description of all the code and data files broken down by the directories in which code and data files should be organized in.
All code for figures and analysis are in a single file: Figures_Analysis.R uploaded to Zenodo. There is also the "SessionInfo.txt" file that provides information about hardware and package versions code was run with.
Here is a summary of the different Data files used by Figures_Analysis.R
- "Temp_CFC_Data.csv": Data file that contains experimental data used in the paper. Here are the descriptions of the column variables:
- Sperm.number: Individual ID of the sperm being tracked.
- VCL: Curvillinear sperm velocity (μm/s)
- Second_view: Time since activation (s) that the sperm was recorded.
- Field: The field number or short video clip ID that the sperm was measured in. All sperm in the same field of the same file have the same second_view.
- filename: Name of the file.
- frames: How many frames an individual sperm was tracked for
- Male: Male ID
- Female: Female ID
- Trial: Trial ID
- Temp: Test temperature of the experiment (16,22,28; Celsius).
- OF: Activating fluid used in the experiment. Either "OF" (diluted ovarian fluid) or "SW" (seawater).
- MaleT: Male reproductive type. Either "NM" for nesting male or "SN" for sneaker.
- "Alonzo_et_al_Nature_Comm_2016_data.csv"": Data file from Alonzo et. al 2016 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12452. This data file is a reduced version of "Alonzo_et_al_Nature_Comm_2016_Expt1.csv" on Dryad (https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1m056)
- NM_sperm_number: Average number of nesting male sperm.
- SN_sperm_number: Average number of sneaker male sperm.
- NM1.VCL: Nesting male sperm velocity at 40 seconds.
- SN1.VCL: Sneaker male sperm velocity at 40 seconds.
- Number_Assigned_NM: The number of offspring assigned to the nesting male in the genetic paternity analyses.
- Number_Genotyped: The number of offspring genotyped.
- Ovarian_Fluid_Treatment: Ovarian fluid treatment. Either "Baseline" for ovarian fluid or "Rinsed" for no ovarian fluid.
- "SST_1981_2023_08-09_raw.rds": Data file of longterm temperature data collected from STARESO presented in Figure 1A,b. Data was provided by Lovina Fullgrabe (Fullgrabe et al. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.104962) . Long-term acquisition of temperature data was supported by the STARESO marine station, the Rhone-Mediterranean and Corsica Water Agency and the Collectivity of Corsica under the STARECAPMED project. Data set is not posted on this depository. The column names and descriptions are below:
- tssta_codesta Device that recorded the temperature measurment.
- daytime: Date and time. Date is in the formate of year-month-day
- Temperature: Temperature recorded (C)
- Pression abs. kPA: Absolute pressure in kPA.
- "DateEX.csv": Data file that contains information about the date that experiments were conducted.The column names and descriptions are below:
- Trial: Experimental ID to match with "Temp_CFC_Data.csv"
- Date: Date of the experiment in Year-Month-Day format.
- "STARESO_2.5mDeep_HOBO_Corse23.csv": Data file of sea tempearture data collected by the authors of this paper during the course of the experiment near nests of the ocellated wrasse. The column names and descriptions are below:
- year: Year of temperature data collection.
- day: Date of temperature data collection in month/day/year format.
- time: Time of data collection in Hour:Minute:Second
- temp: Temperature recorded (C)