Sexually experienced Drosophila melanogaster males are better at courting and competing for mates. Sehresh Saleem, Ginger E. Carney. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.

   Competition for mates is a widespread phenomenon that affects reproductive success. Gaining a mating advantage over competitors is therefore a priority for increasing individual fitness. The ability of animals to adjust their behaviors in response to changing social environment is important and well documented. Drosophila melanogaster males compete with one another for copulations with females and vary their reproductive behaviors based upon prior social interactions. However, it remains to be determined how male social experience that culminates in mating with a female impacts subsequent male reproductive behaviors. In this study we quantified the effects of prior mating experience on subsequent D. melanogaster male courtship behavior and mating success. Males with previous sexual experience performed less courtship but extended their wings and attempted to mount the females more often compared to sexually naïve males. When a sexually experienced and a naïve rival competed for mating with a female, sexually experienced males won more often by increasing the effort they directed towards component courtship behaviors. Interestingly, males with only courtship experience or with incomplete copulations did not out-compete naïve males; therefore courtship experience alone was not sufficient in providing this competitive advantage, indicating that copulation plays a role. Our results demonstrate the ability of previously mated males to learn from their sexual experience and modify their behaviors to gain a mating advantage. These experienced-based changes in behavior reveal learned strategies that animals likely use to increase their fecundity in natural competitive environments.