Fig. 1

Male C. elegans exhibit higher turn rates to osmotic stimuli than hermaphrodites. a Behavioral differences between different sexes a 5–10 min after transfer to new NGM plates without food. Hermaphrodites (XX) typically explored the surroundings alone for food, while males (XO) tended to gather together and exhibit mating behavior. *An egg that was accidentally transferred with males. b Schematic of the avoidance behaviors [11]. c Behavioral changes in response to osmotic stimuli via 0–6 M sorbitol solution. Differences in the optimization of avoidance behavior patterns between sexes in response to different sorbitol concentrations. Both hermaphrodites and males exhibit higher turn rates as sorbitol concentrations rise. However, at lower concentrations (1, 2 M), males showed higher turn rates compared to hermaphrodites. Statistical analysis was conducted using ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc tests; p > 0.999, 0.413, 0.929 (turn rates at 0 M, 4 M, 6 M); p = 0.0056 (turn rate at 1 M); p < 0.001 (turn rate at 2 M) (d) Differences in optimization of avoidance behavior patterns between sexes in response to different glycerol concentrations. Both sexes exhibit higher turn rates with an increase in glycerol concentrations. Males exhibited higher turn rates compared to hermaphrodites here, similar to when stimulated with sorbitol, although not statistically significant. Statistical analysis was conducted using ANOVA followed by Tukey's post hoc tests; p > 0.999, 0.790, 0.551, 0.0584, 0.271 (turn rates at 0–6 M). n in the figure indicates the number of plates (cohort) of 10 ± 1 animals each. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM