Fly Constraints

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In the wild, social and ecological constraints correlate to act on both male and female flies’ reproductive decisions. However, females are biologically different from males, which result in the females having more ecological constraints, when she is making a reproductive decision. Possible constraints include: predation, resources, number of potential mates/conspecifics in a population, and among others (Gowaty and Hubbell, 2009). Nonetheless; life expectancy, injury, and survival probabilities are also key factors that influence an individuals’ reproductive decisions. Like most insects, flies depend on their senses to survive. So, being able to detect danger or changes to their environment is important for that fly’s survival and overall fitness (Wheeler, 2008). In flies the male is only capable of impregnate the female, so he may move on to copulate with another female if conditions are favorable. If conditions are unfavorable the male may act to force copulate, manipulate, or copulate with a …show more content…
Even though, the same constraints act on the female, females also have to make a reproductive decision based on whether she is near a food source. Otherwise, she risks dying while she is a gravid female. The female also need to consider if there is a “suitable medium” to lay her offspring nearby otherwise they die (Moore, 2016). This process takes time and energy. So, such constraints in addition to everything I stated above acts on females; therefore, if conditions are unfavorable she may decide; to copulate with any quality mate, use a high quality mate’s sperm, or to reject copulation (Gowaty and Hubbell, 2005). Overall, it is important to consider that “individuals in a population are flexible to adjust their behaviors to enhance their fitness” and that life expectancy is a variable that influences reproductive decisions (Gowaty,

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