R/Dsimulans_matechoice.R

In ecoteach: Educational Datasets for Ecology and Agriculture

#' Mate Copying in Drosophila simulans
#'
#' A dataset containing observations of mate choice decisions of \emph{Drosophila simulans} 
#' females from three different populations to test whether they copy the mate choice of 
#' their conspecifics. The study tested whether female fruit flies acquire a sexual 
#' preference for a particular trait of a male after observing a single mating event.
#' The experimental protocol involved a naïve, unmated female first observing a conspecific's 
#' mate choice between one artificially colored green and one artificially colored pink male, 
#' and subsequently being allowed to choose between two males of the same phenotype herself.
#'
#' @format A data frame with 383 rows and 14 variables:
#' \describe{
#'   \item{Experimentor}{Who conducted the experiment (SN: Sabine Nöbel, TK: Tim Kaufmann)}
#'   \item{Date}{Date of the experiment}
#'   \item{TimeDemo}{Beginning time of the experiment}
#'   \item{Chamber}{Position in the experimental box (A-F)}
#'   \item{Device}{Number of the experimental set-up}
#'   \item{Strain}{Fly population: Haale (Saale), Maison Salasar, or Deyme}
#'   \item{Treatment}{Experimental treatment: Mate copying (informed) or Control (uninformed)}
#'   \item{Temp}{Temperature (°C) in the experimental room}
#'   \item{Humidity}{Humidity (%) in the experimental room}
#'   \item{ColourDemo}{Color of the male copulating in the demonstration: Green or Pink}
#'   \item{Colour1Court}{Color of the male that started the first courtship: Green or Pink}
#'   \item{Colour2Court}{Color of the male that started the second courtship: Green or Pink}
#'   \item{ColourTest}{Color of the male copulating in the test phase: Green or Pink}
#'   \item{MCS}{Mate-copying score: "Same color" (observer female chose the same colored male 
#'              as the demonstrator) or "Different color" (observer female chose a different 
#'              colored male than the demonstrator)}
#' }
#' @source Nöbel, Sabine and Kaufmann, Tim (2025). Data from: Mate copying in Drosophila simulans. 
#'   Dryad Digital Repository. \doi{10.5061/DRYAD.ZS7H44JMC}
#' @examples
#' \donttest{
#' # Load the dataset
#' data(Dsimulans_matechoice)
#' 
#' # Basic exploration
#' head(Dsimulans_matechoice)
#' summary(Dsimulans_matechoice)
#' 
#' # Examine mate copying rates by treatment
#' table(Dsimulans_matechoice$Treatment, Dsimulans_matechoice$MCS)
#' 
#' # Compare mate copying across different strains (using base R)
#' mosaicplot(table(Dsimulans_matechoice$Strain, Dsimulans_matechoice$MCS),
#'            main = "Mate choice outcomes by strain",
#'            color = c("lightblue", "salmon"))
#'            
#' # Analyze if environmental conditions affect mate copying
#' boxplot(Temp ~ MCS, data = Dsimulans_matechoice, 
#'         main = "Temperature effects on mate copying",
#'         ylab = "Temperature (°C)")
#' }
"Dsimulans_matechoice"