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Several predictions of sperm competition theory are not well supported empirically. One potential reason is that most current theory and empirical research ignore how the social environment influence the temporal dynamics of mating. We propose that understanding these dynamics is key to understanding sexual selection and improving the predictive power of theory. To demonstrate the importance of these dynamics, we quantify how males’ social role, interactions among males, and current social environment influence the timing of mating in Symphodus ocellatus, a species with three alternative male reproductive tactics. Nesting males spawn synchronously with females; sneakers and satellites sneak-spawn with some time delay. Satellites also cooperate with nesting males. We found that satellites have shorter sneak-spawning delays than sneakers, a benefit of their cooperation with nesting males. Sneak-spawning delays decreased with increasing nest activity for sneakers but not for satellites, suggesting that sneakers may benefit from increased sperm competition intensity. Current sperm competition models ignore this potential benefit, which may be why the prediction that males should decrease investment when sperm competition involves more than two males is not well supported. Our study provides insight into mechanisms that drive variation in the timing of spawning, which could explain mismatches between theoretical and empirical results.
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Understanding the thermal sensitivity of reproductive interactions is crucial given global warming. Previous studies have almost exclusively focused on interactions before mating, even though important interactions between the sexes also occur after mating (e.g. gamete interactions), which are likely also affected by temperature. Thus, it remains unknown how temperature affects the influence of female reproductive fluid on sperm performance, thereby altering female control over fertilization (cryptic female choice). This gap limits our understanding of how sexual selection changes with seasonal temperature fluctuations and temperatures outside the range of historical norms. We tested how temperatures relevant to current conditions and climate change projections influence the mechanisms underlying cryptic female choice in a marine fish, Symphodus ocellatus. Under typical, cooler thermal conditions, female reproductive fluid enhances sperm velocity and biases fertilization dynamics to favour preferred, dominant males over sneaker males. We find that warmer temperatures decrease female influence on sperm velocity, especially for dominant males. This results in dominant males having slower sperm than sneaker males at warmer temperatures, reducing the expected paternity of preferred, dominant males. Our results highlight that considering the thermal sensitivity of female–male interactions that occur after mating will be essential for understanding how seasonal variation and climate change can influence fertility, reproduction and sexual selection. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. © 2026 The Author(s). Functional Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.
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