2019 DSRF Award Winner Freddie Xu

This past summer, I conducted research on the nature of sexual selection using Drosophila simulans as a model organism. Males of this species possess “sex combs” on their forelimbs utilized in mating; it is reasonable to think that these features would experience sexual selection via female preferences during copulation. Based on a project of mine from last year, I found that virgin females exhibited no preference for tooth number on male sex combs: my project this summer reevaluated this relationship except now with previously-mated females. The goal was to see how past matings impacted the female’s preferences for future mates and (potentially) elucidate some of the fundamental reasons behind why variation in male traits persists in light of sexually-selective pressures.