Data for: The effect of mating history on male reproductive ageing in Drosophila melanogaster

With these males we conducted a series of behavioral experiments covering several aspects of male reproductive success with males ranging in age from 4 days to 6 weeks after eclosion. Additionally, we investigated the storage capacity of male accessory glands (AG), the production site of the majority of seminal fluid proteins. We found that reproductive traits declined in expression with increasing male age and, most importantly, males with prior matings showed a reduced performance in pre-copulatory traits.

However, our data suggest a constant short-term cost of mating rather than an accelerated senescence of pre-copulatory traits. In contrast, senescence of post-copulatory reproductive traits differed between mated and virgin males, hinting at mating costs in males altering the ageing process. We could not find any differences in the capacity of the AG to store seminal fluid proteins, however, our data suggest that old males transfer fewer seminal fluid proteins in a single mating.