Ejaculate expenditures of male crickets in response to varying risk and intensity of sperm competition: not all species play games

Costs incurred in the manufacture of ejaculates may constrain the number of sperm that males can produce, so males should show some economy in their a llocation of sperm across multiple matings. In species in which females mat e with multiple males and are capable of storing sperm for extended periods , sperm allocation of males should be tailored to the risk of sperm competi tion. Recent game theory predicts that males should transfer the least sper m when there are no other rivals, and the most sperm when only one other ri val is likely to inseminate the female. However, as the numbers of competit ors increases beyond two, the models predict a corresponding decrease in ej aculate expenditure. We tested these predictions in three cricket species, Gryllodes sigillatus, Gryllus veletis, and Gryllus texensis, assessing the sperm allocation of males held under three levels of apparent interrival co mpetition: no rivals, one rival and six rivals. Sperm allocation of G. vele tis varied according to theory: males increased their sperm allocation with an increased risk of sperm competition (no rivals vs. one), but decreased their allocation with an increased intensity of sperm competition (one riva l vs. six). Sperm allocation of male G. texensis showed no significant resp onse to the density of rivals, and sperm allocation in G. sigillatus was in fluenced by an unexpected interaction between treatment density and the ord er in which males experienced the three treatments. The observed interspeci fic variation in facultative sperm allocation may be due to interspecific d ifferences in population density, rearing environment, or female mating beh avior.