"Dehydrated males are less likely to dive into the mating pool" by Christopher R. Friesen, Emily J. Uhrig et al.
The hydration state of animals vying for reproductive success may have implications for the tempo and mode of sexual selection, which may be salient in populations that experience increasing environmental fluctuations in water availability. Using red-sided garter snakes as a model system, we tested the effect of water supplementation on courtship, mating behavior, and copulatory plug (CP) production during a drought year. Over 3 days of mating trials, water-supplemented males (WET males, n = 45) outperformed a control group that was not supplemented with water (DRY males, n = 45). Over 70% of ...
Source: uow.edu.au