Laboratory-reared and field-collected predators respond differently to same experimental treatments

To advance our understanding of biological processes we often plan our experiments based on published data. This can be confusing though, as data from experiments performed in a laboratory environment are sometimes different from, or completely opposite to, findings from similar experiments performed in the "real world". In this mini-review, we discuss instances where results from laboratory experiments differ as a result of laboratory housing conditions, and where they differ from results gathered in the field environment. Experiments involving endocrinology and behavior appear to be particularly susceptible to influence from the environment in which they are performed. As such, we have attempted to promote discussion of the influence of housing environment on the reproductive axis, circadian biology and behavior, immune function, stress biology, neuroplasticity and photoperiodism. For example, why should a rodent species be diurnal in one housing environment yet nocturnal in another? Are data that are gathered from experiments in the laboratory applicable to the field environment, and vice-versa? We hope not only to highlight the need for experiments in both lab and field when looking at complex biological systems, but also to promote frank discussion of discordant data. Perhaps, just as study of individual variation has been gaining momentum in recent years, data from variation between experimental arenas can provide us with novel lines of research.

Current sexual selection theory proposes several potential mechanisms driving the evolution of female mating preferences, few of which involve social interactions. Although vertebrate examples of socially influenced mating preferences do exist, the invertebrate examples are virtually nonexistent. Here I demonstrate that the mating preferences of female wolf spiders can be acquired through exposure as subadults to unrelated, sexually active adult males. I first conducted exposure trials during which subadult females of the wolf spider Schizocosa uetzi were allowed to interact with mature males of an experimentally manipulated phenotype (either black or brown forelegs). After maturation, these previously exposed females were paired with a male of either a familiar or unfamiliar manipulated phenotype for mate-choice trials. Subadult females that were exposed to directed courtship by mature males of a particular morphological phenotype were subsequently more likely to mate with a male of a familiar phenotype as adults. Furthermore, females that were exposed as subadults were more likely, as adults, to cannibalize a courting male with an unfamiliar phenotype. Unexposed females did not distinguish between phenotypes in either mate choice or cannibalism frequency. These results suggest a previously uncharacterized mechanism influencing the origin of female mating preferences and ultimately the evolution of male traits: subadult experience. This study also stresses the potential importance of learning and memory on adult mate choice in an arthropod.