Breeding behaviour and ecology of the grey fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa)

2007 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kat Munro
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Breeding Ecology ◽  
Australian Capital Territory ◽  
Extra Pair Paternity ◽  
Confidence Of Paternity ◽  
Four Seasons ◽  
Male Care ◽  
Nest Depredation ◽  
High Level

The grey fantail (Rhipidura albiscapa) is a common Australian flycatcher, yet no detailed reports have been made of its breeding ecology. A population of grey fantails was studied over four seasons in the Australian Capital Territory. Males had large testes and pronounced cloacal protuberances, morphology suggestive of sperm competition. Although two polyandrous trios were observed, most individuals bred as part of a season-long monogamous pair, suggesting that extra-pair copulation may be the principal cause of sperm competition. Indeed, behavioural observations revealed that males regularly intruded other territories, targeting those with building, rather than incubating, females. Intruding males were observed harassing, attempting to copulate and successfully copulating with resident females. Males did not mate guard, but regularly attacked their mates during each building attempt. Despite the probability that extra-pair paternity is common in this species, grey fantails were monomorphic and monochromatic, with a high level of paternal care. Nest depredation was common, with 83% of all clutches depredated before fledging. High levels of male care in care in this species may be better explained by an increase in fledging success associated with high male contribution to offspring care than confidence of paternity.

scholarly journals SPERM COMPETITION MECHANISMS, CONFIDENCE OF PATERNITY, AND THE EVOLUTION OF PATERNAL CARE IN THE GOLDEN EGG BUG (PHYLLOMORPHA LACINIATA)

Evolution ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1078-1088 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco García-González ◽  
Yolanda NÜÑEZ ◽  
Fernando Ponz ◽  
Eduardo R. S. Roldán ◽  
Montserrat Gomendio
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Phyllomorpha Laciniata ◽  
Confidence Of Paternity ◽  
Golden Egg Bug

scholarly journals Sperm competition games when males invest in paternal care

2017 ◽  
Vol 284 (1860) ◽  
pp. 20171266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gustavo S. Requena ◽  
Suzanne H. Alonzo
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Mating Systems ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Parental Effort ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
Male Care ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Relationship

Sperm competition games investigate how males partition limited resources between pre- and post-copulatory competition. Although extensive research has explored how various aspects of mating systems affect this allocation, male allocation between mating, fertilization and parental effort has not previously been considered. Yet, paternal care can be energetically expensive and males are generally predicted to adjust their parental effort in response to expected paternity. Here, we incorporate parental effort into sperm competition games, particularly exploring how the relationship between paternal care and offspring survival affects sperm competition and the relationship between paternity and paternal care. Our results support existing expectations that (i) fertilization effort should increase with female promiscuity and (ii) paternal care should increase with expected paternity. However, our analyses also reveal that the cost of male care can drive the strength of these patterns. When paternal behaviour is energetically costly, increased allocation to parental effort constrains allocation to fertilization effort. As paternal care becomes less costly, the association between paternity and paternal care weakens and may even be absent. By explicitly considering variation in sperm competition and the cost of male care, our model provides an integrative framework for predicting the interaction between paternal care and patterns of paternity.

SPERM COMPETITION MECHANISMS, CONFIDENCE OF PATERNITY, AND THE EVOLUTION OF PATERNAL CARE IN THE GOLDEN EGG BUG (PHYLLOMORPHA LACINIATA)

Evolution ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 57 (5) ◽  
pp. 1078 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco García-González ◽  
Yolanda Núñez ◽  
Fernando Ponz ◽  
Eduardo R. S. Roldán ◽  
Montserrat Gomendio
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Phyllomorpha Laciniata ◽  
Confidence Of Paternity ◽  
Golden Egg Bug

scholarly journals Sexual selection favours male parental care, when females can choose

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1734) ◽  
pp. 1784-1790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suzanne H. Alonzo
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Parental Care ◽  
Female Choice ◽  
Mating Success ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Sharp Contrast ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Extra Pair Paternity ◽  
Female Promiscuity ◽  
Male Care

Explaining the evolution of male care has proved difficult. Recent theory predicts that female promiscuity and sexual selection on males inherently disfavour male care. In sharp contrast to these expectations, male-only care is often found in species with high extra-pair paternity and striking variation in mating success, where current theory predicts female-only care. Using a model that examines the coevolution of male care, female care and female choice; I show that inter-sexual selection can drive the evolution of male care when females are able to bias mating or paternity towards parental males. Surprisingly, female choice for parental males allows male care to evolve despite low relatedness between the male and the offspring in his care. These results imply that predicting how sexual selection affects parental care evolution will require further understanding of why females, in many species, either do not prefer or cannot favour males that provide care.

scholarly journals Australian Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AGAR) Australian Enterococcal Sepsis Outcome Programme (AESOP) Annual Report 2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey W Coombs ◽  
Denise A Daley ◽  
Shakeel Mowlaboccus ◽  
Yung Thin Lee ◽  
Stanley Pang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Molecular Epidemiology ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Treatment Options ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Australian Capital Territory ◽  
Ampicillin Resistance ◽  
High Level ◽  
Sequence Types ◽  
Outcome Programme

From 1 January to 31 December 2018, thirty-six institutions around Australia participated in the Australian Enterococcal Sepsis Outcome Programme (AESOP). The aim of AESOP 2018 was to determine the proportion of enterococcal bacteraemia isolates in Australia that were antimicrobial resistant, and to characterise the molecular epidemiology of the E. faecium isolates. Of the 1,248 unique episodes of bacteraemia investigated, 93.5% were caused by either E. faecalis (54.2%) or E. faecium (39.3%). Ampicillin resistance was not detected in E. faecalis but was detected in 89.4% of E. faecium. Vancomycin non-susceptibility was not detected in E. faecalis but was reported in 45.0% of E. faecium. Overall 49.3% of E. faecium isolates harboured vanA or vanB genes. Of the vanA/vanB positive E. faecium isolates, 52.9% harboured vanA genes and 46.2% vanB genes; 0.8% harboured both vanA and vanB genes. The percentage of E. faecium bacteraemia isolates resistant to vancomycin in Australia is substantially higher than that seen in most European countries. E. faecium consisted of 59 multilocus sequence types (STs) of which 74.4% of isolates were classified into six major STs containing ten or more isolates. All major STs belong to clonal cluster (CC) 17, a major hospital-adapted polyclonal E. faecium cluster. The predominant STs (ST17, ST1424, ST796, ST80, ST1421, and ST262) were found across most regions of Australia. The most predominant clone was ST17 which was identified in all regions except the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. Overall, 55.8% of isolates belonging to the six predominant STs harboured vanA or vanB genes. The AESOP 2018 study has shown that enterococcal bacteraemias in Australia are frequently caused by polyclonal ampicillin-resistant high-level gentamicin-resistant vanA- or vanB-harbouring E. faecium which have limited treatment options.

scholarly journals Females prefer the calls of better fathers in a Neotropical frog with biparental care

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth A Pettitt ◽  
Godfrey R Bourne ◽  
Mark A Bee
Keyword(s):  
Paternal Care ◽  
Biparental Care ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Differential Allocation ◽  
Secondary Sexual Traits ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Good Parent ◽  
Direct Benefits ◽  
Male Care ◽  
Sexual Traits

Abstract Male secondary sexual traits potentially function as indicators of direct or indirect fitness benefits to females. Direct benefits, such as paternal care, may be especially important to females in species with biparental care. In an experimental field study of the golden rocket frog (Anomaloglossus beebei), a Neotropical species with biparental care, we tested predictions from four hypotheses proposed to explain the evolutionary relationship between male secondary sexual traits and paternal care quality (the “good parent,” “differential allocation,” “trade-off,” and “essential male care” hypotheses). We examined: 1) the influence of paternal care on offspring survival, 2) the relationships between male calls and paternal care, maternal care, and opportunities for males to acquire multiple mates, and 3) female preferences for three acoustic properties of male advertisement calls. Our results reveal that paternal care positively impacts offspring survival, that males producing longer calls also provide higher-quality paternal care in the form of greater egg attendance and territory defense, and that females prefer longer calls. Females did not discriminate among potential mates based on differences in dominant frequency or call rate. These findings, which suggest male advertisement calls are indicators of potential direct benefits to females in the form of paternal care, are consistent with the good parent hypothesis and inconsistent with the trade-off, differential allocation, and essential male care hypotheses.

Broadening Perspectives on the Evolution of Human Paternal Care and Fathers’ Effects on Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee T. Gettler ◽  
Adam H. Boyette ◽  
Stacy Rosenbaum
Keyword(s):  
Paternal Care ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Child Outcomes ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Life History Strategy ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Direct Care ◽  
Paternal Effects ◽  
Male Care ◽  
Effects On Children

Unlike most mammals, human fathers cooperate with mothers to care for young to an extraordinary degree. Human paternal care likely evolved alongside our unique life history strategy of raising slow-developing, energetically costly children, often in rapid succession. Adaptive frameworks generally assume that paternal provisioning played a critical role in this pattern's emergence. We draw on nonhuman primate data to propose that nonprovisioning forms of low-cost hominin male care were potentially foundational and ratcheted up through evolutionary time, helping facilitate social contexts for later subsistence specialization and sharing. We then argue for expanding the breadth of anthropological research on paternal effects in families, particularly in three domains: direct care and teaching;social capital cultivation; and reduction of family conflict. Anthropologists can greatly contribute to conversations about the determinants of children's development across contexts, but we need to ask more expansive questions about the pathways through which caregivers (including fathers) affect child outcomes.

scholarly journals Convergent evolution of sperm gigantism and the developmental origins of sperm size variability in Caenorhabditis nematodes

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Vielle ◽  
Nicolas Callemeyn-Torre ◽  
Clotilde Gimond ◽  
Nausicaa Poullet ◽  
Jeremy C. Gray ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sperm Competition ◽  
Convergent Evolution ◽  
Paternal Care ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Size Variation ◽  
Egg Cell ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Integrative View ◽  
Size Variability ◽  
Sperm Size

AbstractSperm cells provide crucial, if usually diminutive, ingredients to successful sexual reproduction as the source of centrioles and half the diploid genome. Despite this essential conserved function, sperm competition and coevolution with female traits can drive spectacular change in size and shape of these motile cells. Here we characterize four repeated instances of convergent evolution of sperm gigantism in Caenorhabditis nematodes using phylogenetic comparative methods on 26 species. Species at the extreme end of the 50-fold range of sperm-cell volumes across the genus have sperm capable of comprising up to 5% of egg-cell volume, representing severe attenuation of the magnitude of anisogamy. Exploring potential genetic and developmental determinants of Caenorhabditis sperm size variation, we uncover significant differences in mean and variance of sperm size among genotypes, between sexes of androdioecious species, as well as within and between individuals of identical genotypes. We demonstrate that the developmental basis of sperm size variation, both within and between species, becomes established during an early stage of sperm development, i.e. at the formation of primary spermatocytes while subsequent meiotic divisions contribute little further sperm size variability. These findings provide first insights into the developmental determinants of inter-and intraspecific sperm size differences in Caenorhabditis. Together, our results provide a novel integrative view on the developmental and evolutionary origins of Caenorhabditis sperm size variation. We hypothesize that life history and/or ecological differences among species favoured the evolution of alternative sperm competition strategies toward either many smaller sperm or fewer larger sperm, with gigantic sperm potentially providing a means of paternal care via gametic provisioning or as a potent vehicle for sexual conflict over offspring development.

Evolution and Human Fatherhood

2019 ◽  
pp. 177-199
Author(s):  
Adam H. Boyette ◽  
Lee T. Gettler
Keyword(s):  
Paternal Care ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Social Monogamy ◽  
Evolutionary Sequence ◽  
Phylogenetic Distribution ◽  
Pair Bonds ◽  
Male Care ◽  
Developmental Responses ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter reviews research on the evolution of paternal care in humans. It examines human fatherhood within the phylogenetic distribution of paternal care in vertebrates, especially mammals. Phylogenetic comparisons draw out several correlates of paternal care across species, with the most important being social monogamy. Research on the evolution of paternal care in humans has also focused on the relationship between social monogamy and the evolution of paternal care. The chapter reviews this research and major debates around whether male provisioning was a key adaptation in the evolution of pair-bonds and human life history. It discusses evidence for direct male care and summarizes a possible evolutionary sequence of its evolution in humans. It considers studies on the neuroendocrinology of male care in humans, drawing from comparative studies where appropriate. Lastly, this chapter outlines several major biocultural frameworks for understanding population-level patterns of paternal care as integrated, developmental responses to specific socioecological factors.

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