Timed Mating Optimizes Reproduction

a large mayfly with a body curling upwards rests on a green branch against a blurry background

Biological Strategy

Mayfly

AskNature Team

Image: Erik Karits / Pixabay / Free non-commercial use

Regulate Reproduction or Growth

Reproduction and growth are two physiological processes that occur in all living systems. There are situations when conditions are right for both, and other situations when continuing either harms the living system because both have a very high energy cost. Reproduction and growth are unique in that both can stop until conditions improve, although stopping either for an extended time can cause problems. An example of regulating reproduction is a process called delayed implantation or embryonic diapause found in some mammals, such as otters. An otter’s embryos sometimes temporarily cease developing and won’t develop further until the female senses that conditions are suitable.

Search this Function

Sense Time and Day Length

Being aware of time and day length is important for living systems to appropriately time such activities such as flowering or releasing seeds, migrating, and reproducing. When these activities are done at the wrong time it wastes energy, and resources, and may even jeopardize survival. To determine time, living systems sense light signals. Processing these signals goes beyond simply sensing light; it entails determining whether there is enough light (in quantity or duration) to support a given activity. The rockcress plant, for example, uses light as an environmental cue to time flower development. Delaying blooming protects its reproductive parts from freezing or from blooming before enough pollinators are active.

Search this Function

Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

Search this Living System

Swarms of mayflies maximize reproductive chances by timing emergence with the full moon.

Image: Kovacs.szilard / CC BY SA - Creative Commons Attribution + ShareAlike

Mayfly swarming on Tisza

Image: Luc Viatour / Wikimedia commons /

Mayfly (Ephemera danica), Belgium (natural reserve Furfooz)

“In the mayfly (Povilla adusta), a distinct lunar-based pattern of adult emergence and swarming has been documented…swarms appeared within five days of the full moon, with most of them occurring on the second night after full moon. On three separate occasions, swarms were recorded simultaneously at locations roughly 120 miles (75 km) apart. Adult mayflies live only for a few hours, so the purpose of this swarming synchronicity is presumably to bring the two sexes together in order to maximize mating prospects before they die.” (Shuker 2001:95)