Sexual behaviour of young people in Northern Ireland: First sexual experience

Two National Surveys of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles in Britain (Natsal) were conducted, one in 1990 and one in 2000. Northern Ireland was excluded from both studies. Now, for the first time, comparable data about sexual attitudes and lifestyles of young people (14- to 25-year-olds) in Northern Ireland are available. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires, one-to-one interviews and focus-group discussions. As in Natsal 1990 and 2000, young people were asked about their sexual attitudes towards sex, experiences of sex education, knowledge of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and, if sexually active, about the circumstances in which sexual intercourse occurred. A total of 1013 young people in the target age group completed the self-administered questionnaire. Young people in Northern Ireland do not differ significantly from their counterparts in Britain in terms of sexual lifestyles and attitudes. Some 53.3% of all respondents reported that they had had sexual intercourse. Condom use at first sex was reported by 64% of sexually active respondents; 27.4% said they used no contraception; 26.7% of all respondents said they had sex before age 16. Respondents who first had sex when they were 15 or 16 years were more likely than other respondents to say that 'being drunk' was the main reason why intercourse occurred. Peer pressure to engage in sex was more prevalent among males than females. Young people in Northern Ireland regard friends as their most important source of sex education. School is the second most important source but most respondents wanted more sex education in school. It is important that it is needs focused and includes potentially sensitive and contentious information.

Estimation of the size of onset of sexual maturity in Nephrops norvegicus (L.).

Size at onset of maturity (SOM) was estimated for both male and female Nephrops from primary sexual characteristics and morphometric traits. SOM estimated from primary sexual characteristics based on histological examination of the gonad ranged from 15.1 mm carapace length (CL) in males to 22.9 mm CL in females. Nephrops morphometric maturity, or change in allometric growth of body parts, was estimated from appendix masculina and cutter claw lengths in males and abdomen width in females from two sites in the Irish Sea. Two regression techniques were used to estimate morphometric maturity. Estimated SOM from morphometric characteristics ranged from 23.2 to 27.6 mm CL in females and from 25.9 to 31.0 mm CL in males. Spatial variation in SOM was observed in Nephrops from different parts of the Irish Sea.

The energy costs of sexual dimorphism in mole-rats are morphological not behavioural.

Different reproductive strategies of males and females may lead to the evolution of differences in their energetic costs of reproduction, overall energetic requirements and physiological performances. Sexual dimorphism is often associated with costly behaviours (e.g. large males might have a competitive advantage in fighting, which is energetically expensive). However, few studies of mammals have directly compared the energy costs of reproductive activities between sexes. We compared the daily energy expenditure (DEE) and resting metabolic rate (RMR) of males and females of two species of mole-rat, Bathyergus janetta and Georychus capensis (the former is sexually dimorphic in body size and the latter is not) during a period of intense digging when males seek females. We hypothesized that large body size might be indicative of greater digging or fighting capabilities, and hence greater mass-independent DEE values in males of the sexually dimorphic species. In contrast to this prediction, although absolute values of DEE were greater in B. janetta males, mass-independent values were not. No differences were apparent between sexes in G. capensis. By comparison, although RMR values were greater in B. janetta than G. capensis, no differences were apparent between the sexes for either species. The energy cost of dimorphism is most likely to be the cost of maintenance of a large body size, and not the cost of behaviours performed when an individual is large.

Sexual dimorphism in amphipods: the role of male posterior gnathopods revealed in Gammarus pulex

In the mate-guarding amphipod, Gammarus pulex, the enlarged male posterior gnathopods have been variously suggested to function to grasp and subdue the female, to be used as weapons in fights between males, to signal to the female the male presence and stimulate moult accelaration, egg development or egg extrusion. These hypotheses were tested in a series of experiments, the results of which reveal an unexpected function. Ablation of the posterior gnathopods of males showed that they were neither necessary for, nor advantageous in, establishment and/ or maintenance of precopula mate guarding, with or without competition with intact males. Furthermore, these appendages do not function to advance female moult, or stimulate egg development or extrusion. However, only males with intact posterior gnathopods were able to copulate. We also show that females require a full copulation of several bouts to extrude eggs. We conclude that the function of the posterior gnathopods is to facilitate copulation and suggest future studies focus on the selective pressures acting on copulating males.

Sexual cannibalism and mate choice

Sexual cannibalism, where a female kills and consumes a courting male, represents an extreme form of sexual conflict and has been proposed as a mechanism of mate choice. We evaluate the evidence for mate choice through premating sexual cannibalism via mate rejection, other indirect mechanisms of mate 'choice' and choice in postmating sexual cannibalism. We highlight a paucity of investigations, particularly of field studies, and note gaps in our knowledge. There is empirical support for the size-dependent sexual cannibalism predicted by mate choice through premating sexual cannibalism. This may represent mate choice operating on absolute male size but it could be a by-product of female foraging behaviour and greater vulnerability of relatively smaller males. Thus, indirect mate choice is as plausible an explanation of size-dependent sexual cannibalism as is direct mate choice based on discrimination of male traits. Direct female choice, mediated through premating sexual cannibalism, has yet to be demonstrated. We suggest a framework for distinguishing direct and indirect choice and note an absence of information on which to test it. There is evidence for sequential mate choice in postmating sexual cannibalism, but the nature or basis of the female's discriminatory behaviour remains unclear. Costs and long-term fitness benefits of the putative mate choice have been largely ignored. Reversed sexual cannibalism, in which the male eats the female, presumably occurs when the gain from food is high and potential gain from mating low and probably has little to do with mate choice. (c) 2005 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.