The genetic mating system, male reproductive success and lack of selection on male traits in the greater bilby

2010 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J. Miller ◽  
Mark D. B. Eldridge ◽  
Neil Thomas ◽  
Nicola Marlow ◽  
Catherine A. Herbert
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Morphological Traits ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Captive Population ◽  
Genetic Mating System ◽  
Free Ranging ◽  
Conservation And Management

The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is the sole remaining species of desert bandicoot on the Australian mainland. The mating system of this species remains poorly understood, due to the bilby’s cryptic nature. We investigated the genetic mating system of the greater bilby in a five-year study of a semi-free-ranging captive population that simulated their wild environment. Morphological traits were examined to determine whether these influenced patterns of male reproductive success and whether selection was acting on them. In any given year more than half the males (59.2 ± 9.3%) failed to sire any offspring. Approximately 70% of sires fathered one offspring, and 30% two or three offspring. Since paternity was not dominated by few males, and given the species’ solitary nature, lack of territoriality and large home ranges, it is likely that males adopt a roving strategy to find receptive females. These results are consistent with an overlap promiscuous mating system. Sires and non-sires could not be distinguished by their morphological traits, and there was no evidence for strong linear or non-linear selection on male traits. These data increase our understanding of bandicoot life-history traits and will assist conservation and management efforts.

Variation in reproductive success of male and female Columbian ground squirrels (Urocitellus columbianus)

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (6) ◽  
pp. 736-743 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip H. Jones ◽  
Jeffrey L. Van Zant ◽  
F. Stephen Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Multiple Paternity ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Offspring Production ◽  
Bateman Gradient ◽  
Coefficients Of Variation ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Columbian Ground Squirrels

The imbalanced reproductive success of polygynous mammals results in sexual selection on male traits like body size. Males and females might have more balanced reproductive success under polygynandry, where both sexes mate multiply. Using 4 years of microsatellite DNA analyses of paternity and known maternity, we investigated variation in reproductive success of Columbian ground squirrels, Urocitellus columbianus (Ord, 1815); a species with multiple mating by both sexes and multiple paternity of litters. We asked whether male reproductive success was more variable than that of females under this mating system. The overall percentage of confirmed paternity was 61.4% of 339 offspring. The mean rate of multiple paternity in litters with known fathers was 72.4% (n = 29 litters). Estimated mean reproductive success of males (10.27 offspring) was about thrice that of females (3.11 offspring). Even after this difference was taken into account statistically, males were about three times as variable in reproductive success as females (coefficients of variation = 77.84% and 26.74%, respectively). The Bateman gradient (regression slope of offspring production on number of successful mates) was significantly greater for males (βM = 1.44) than females (βF = 0.28). Thus, under a polygynandrous mating system, males exhibited greater variation in reproductive success than females.

The cost of trying: weak interspecific correlations among life-history components in male ungulates

2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (9) ◽  
pp. 1072-1085 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Festa-Bianchet
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Main Determinant ◽  
Young Males ◽  
Asymptotic Size ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Slow Growing

Life-history trade-offs are well known in female mammals, but have seldom been quantified for males in polygynous species. I compared age-specific mass, weapon size, survival, and reproductive success of males in eight species of ungulates, and found weak interspecific correlations among life-history traits. Young males tended to have higher reproductive success in rapidly-growing than in slow-growing species, and in species where horns or antlers reached near-asymptotic size over the first few years of life. There was no clear interspecific trade-off between early reproduction and early survival. Reproductive senescence was evident in most species. Generation length, calculated as the mean age of fathers, was negatively correlated with the reproductive success of young males and positively with life expectancy of 3-year-olds, but not with early mortality. The main determinant of male reproductive success in polygynous ungulates is the ability to prevail against competing males. Consequently, the number and age structure of competitors should strongly affect an individual’s ability to reproduce, making classic trade-offs among life-history traits very context-dependent. Most fitness costs of reproduction in male ungulates likely arise from energy expenditure and injuries sustained while attempting to mate. Individual costs may be weakly correlated with fitness returns.

The mating system

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.G.L. Mills ◽  
M.E.J. Mills
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Coalition Formation ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Successful Mating ◽  
Dna Analyses ◽  
Phylogenetic Inertia ◽  
System P ◽  
Number Of Males

Coalition formation in the cheetah is considered to enhance male reproductive success, although no evidence to support this was gleaned in this study. Females advertised oestrus by spray-urinating and often undertook extensive movements at this time. Additionally some evidence for mating rendezvous areas was obtained. Male cheetahs sometimes vocalized extensively when an oestrus female was in the vicinity, although females were not seen to respond. After coming together few copulations occur and often the female resented the presence of the male. Multiple paternities, but never from males of the same coalition, were found in 29% of litters. Interactions between males over oestrus females from different groups were often aggressive. DNA analyses of paternity revealed that successful mating was not skewed to a small number of males, and that single males sired relatively as many cubs as coalition males. Phylogenetic inertia may drive sociality in male cheetahs and other felids.

scholarly journals Postweaning maternal care increases male chimpanzee reproductive success

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (38) ◽  
pp. eaaz5746
Author(s):  
Catherine Crockford ◽  
Liran Samuni ◽  
Linda Vigilant ◽  
Roman M. Wittig
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Parental Investment ◽  
Maternal Care ◽  
Parental Loss ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Successful Reproduction ◽  
Using Data

Humans are unusual among animals for continuing to provision and care for their offspring until adulthood. This “prolonged dependency” is considered key for the evolution of other notable human traits, such as large brains, complex societies, and extended postreproductive lifespans. Prolonged dependency must therefore have evolved under conditions in which reproductive success is gained with parental investment and diminished with early parental loss. We tested this idea using data from wild chimpanzees, which have similarly extended immature years as humans and prolonged mother-offspring associations. Males who lost their mothers after weaning but before maturity began reproducing later and had lower average reproductive success. Thus, persistent mother-immature son associations seem vital for enhancing male reproductive success, although mothers barely provision sons after weaning. We posit that these associations lead to social gains, crucial for successful reproduction in complex social societies, and offer insights into the evolution of prolonged dependency.

Comparing Mutational Variabilities

Genetics ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 143 (3) ◽  
pp. 1467-1483 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Houle ◽  
Bob Morikawa ◽  
Michael Lynch
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Morphological Traits ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Genetic Variance ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Infinite Population ◽  
Persistence Time ◽  
Coefficients Of Variation ◽  
Balance Hypothesis

Abstract We have reviewed the available data on VM, the amount of genetic variation in phenotypic traits produced each generation by mutation. We use these data to make several qualitative tests of the mutation-selection balance hypothesis for the maintenance of genetic variance (MSB). To compare VM values, we use three dimensionless quantities: mutational heritability, the mutational coefficient of variation, CVM; and the ratio of the standing genetic variance to VM, VG/VM. Since genetic coefficients of variation for life history traits are larger than those for morphological traits, we predict that under MSB, life history traits should also have larger CVM. This is confirmed; life history traits have a median CVM value more than six times higher than that for morphological traits. VG/VM approximates the persistence time of mutations under MSB in an infinite population. In order for MSB to hold, VG/VM must be small, substantially less than 1000, and life history traits should have smaller values than morphological traits. VG/VM averages about 50 generations for life history traits and 100 generations for morphological traits. These observations are all consistent with the predictions of a mutation-selection balance model.

Mating system consequences on resistance to herb ivory and life history traits in Datura stramonium

1996 ◽  
Vol 83 (8) ◽  
pp. 1041-1049 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Núnez-Farfán ◽  
Roberto A. Cabrales-Vargas ◽  
Rodolfo Dirzo
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Mating System ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Datura Stramonium

POLYGYNY, REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS AND CHILD HEALTH IN RURAL ETHIOPIA: WHY MARRY A MARRIED MAN?

2006 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
MHAIRI A. GIBSON ◽  
RUTH MACE
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Male Reproductive Success ◽  
Family Status ◽  
Rural Ethiopia ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Married Individuals ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Child Nutritional Status ◽  
And Child Health ◽  
Better Than

Summary.This study examines the reproductive success of men and women in rural Ethiopia as a function of their marital status, specifically by comparing polygamously and monogamously married individuals. In line with predictions from evolutionary theory, polygamy is beneficial to male reproductive success (i.e. producing larger numbers of surviving offspring). The success of polygamously married females depends on wife rank: the first wives of polygamous husbands do better than monogamously married women and much better than second or third wives. These effects are mirrored in child nutritional status: the children of second and third wives have lower weight for height. Due to potential, largely unmeasurable differences in marriageability (quality) between individuals, it was not possible to support a model of either resource-holding polygyny combined with female choice or female coercion into unwanted marriages. First wives of polygamously married men marry at a younger age and attract a higher brideprice, suggesting that both the males and females in the marriage are likely to be of higher quality (due to wealth, family status or some other factor such as beauty). Unions that end up monogamous are likely to be between slightly lower quality individuals; and second and third wives, who marry at the oldest ages and attract the lowest brideprice, may be ‘making the best of a bad job’. The relatively long gap between first and second marriages may mean that first wives of highly marriageable males can enjoy considerable reproductive success before their husbands marry again.

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