1. Sexual Preference in Female Crickets. Jeremy Mull Student Tennessee Technological University

2. Project Summary Do female crickets have a sexual preference? The objective of my experiment is to prove that female crickets show a sexual preference for the dominant male. Hypothesis is that the female crickets will show sexual preference for the dominant male. I expect that the female cricket will show preference for the dominant male every time.

3. Background Adamo, S. A. & Hoy, R. R. 1994. Mating behaviour of the field cricket Gryllus bimaculatus and its dependence on social and environmental cues. Animal Behaviour, 47, 857-868. Hedrick, A. V. & Dill, L. M. 1993. Mate choice by female crickets is influenced by predation risk. Animal Behaviour, 46, 193- 196.

4. Background Cont. Sakaluk, S. K. 1991. Post-copulatory mate guarding in decorated crickets. Animal Behaviour, 41, 207-216. Simmons, L.W. 1991. Female choice and the relatedness of mates in the field cricket, Gryllus bimaculatus. Animal Behaviour, 41, 493-501.

5. Methods and Material In the experiment, two male crickets were placed into a small zip lock container, and given time to acclimate to the new environment. After two minutes, the crickets were observed for four minutes to determine the dominant male, and then one of the males was marked on the back with fingernail polish. The next step was to insert one female cricket into the enclosure with the two males, and give her two minutes to acclimate. After the female was give time to acclimate, she was observed for five minutes to determine if she preferred the dominant male over the other male. The preference was determine based on how long she stayed with each male.

6. Expected Results and Benefits My expected results are that the female cricket in each trial will choose the dominant male. The female will hang around the dominant male the majority of the time in that container. The benefits of this experiment are that maybe as scientists we can use this as a backbone for research in the future. Also it could be used to look for preference in all organisms, and possibly use to look at man.