Research on Drosophila serrata has shown that male members of the species tend to increase in sexual attractiveness from one generation to the next. The landmark finding, however, is derived from the fact that though this does increase each subsequent generations fitness in regards to mating, their is a point at where the attractiveness becomes a "turn off." The reasoning lies in the pheromones released by the flies, where while particularly intoxicating to the female Drosophila s., after seven generations, the increases stop, and female flies no longer care about the overly abundant sexual stylings of the fly. Further research has shown that in continued generations of naturally mated flies, the overall effect of artificially bolstering males with pheromones ears to a 50% decrease in less then six generations. NY Times
This is an interesting phenomenon. It's almost as if the females are being so overly bombarded with these sexual stimuli that they become desensitized to them. Therefore, the uncommon becomes the norm, and the once lesser, now uncommon traits, become desirable. It's as if they're keeping the gene pool rich and not stagnant.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this is a trend that could become possible in human populations. It is amazing to think that the over stimulus of the female flies can completely turn them off to the female flies.
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