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1.
René E. van Dijk Lidia A. Mészáros Marco van der Velde Tamás Székely Ákos Pogány János Szabad Jan Komdeur 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(9):1425-1435
Engagement in extra-pair copulations is an example of the abundant conflicting interests between males and females over reproduction.
Potential benefits for females and the risk of cuckoldry for males are expected to have important implications on the evolution
of parental care. However, whether parents adjust parental care in response to parentage remains unclear. In Eurasian penduline
tits Remiz pendulinus, which are small polygamous songbirds, parental care is carried out either by the male or by the female. In addition, one
third of clutches is deserted by both male and female. Desertion takes place during the egg-laying phase. Using genotypes
of nine microsatellite loci of 443 offspring and 211 adults, we test whether extra-pair paternity predicts parental care.
We expect males to be more likely to desert cuckolded broods, whereas we expect females, if they obtain benefits from having
multiple sires, to be more likely to care for broods with multiple paternity. Our results suggest that parental care is not
adjusted to parentage on an ecological timescale. Furthermore, we found that male attractiveness does not predict cuckoldry,
and we found no evidence for indirect benefits for females (i.e., increased growth rates or heterozygosity of extra-pair offspring).
We argue that male Eurasian penduline tits may not be able to assess the risk of cuckoldry; thus, a direct association with
parental care is unlikely to evolve. However, timing of desertion (i.e., when to desert during the egg-laying phase) may be
influenced by the risk of cuckoldry. Future work applying extensive gene sequencing and quantitative genetics is likely to
further our understanding of how selection may influence the association between parentage and parental care. 相似文献
2.
The rhacophorid frog, Kurixalus eiffingeri, is one of only a few frog species that exhibits polyandry and paternal care of eggs. Previous studies predicted that multiple
paternity within an egg clutch could influence the degree of paternal care and reproductive strategies. We used microsatellite
DNA markers to assess the prevalence of multiple paternity within egg clutches and the relationship between male paternal
care and the percent of male’s genetic contribution to the clutch, i.e., paternal share. We conducted field observations of paternal care and collected tissues from both male frogs and tadpoles
for parentage analyses. Our results showed that at least five out of 31 egg clutches had multiple paternity. Attending males
were always the genetic fathers of some, if not all of the eggs in the clutch they guarded. All egg clutches except one were
attended by one male frog but the attending male did not necessarily sire the majority of offspring. Multiple paternity in
all cases consisted of two fathers and one mother and most likely resulted from synchronous polyandry. Paternal care effort
correlated significantly with the male’s genetic contribution to the clutch, suggesting that male frogs adjust the effort
expended in care in response to paternal share. In addition, our results suggest that externally fertilizing species with
parental care and multiple paternity may develop novel reproductive and behavioral strategies to safeguard their parental
investment and overcome sperm competition. 相似文献
3.
Karen M. Cogliati Bryan D. Neff Sigal Balshine 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2013,67(3):399-408
In many mating systems, males adopt alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) to maximize reproductive success. In fishes, guarding males often invest more energy into courtship, defense, and paternal care, whereas cuckolding males forego such costs and steal fertilizations by releasing their sperm in the nest of a guarding male. These two tactics have been documented in the plainfin midshipman fish (Porichthys notatus), yet the relative reproductive success of the guarding and cuckolding male tactics remains unknown. In this study, we used microsatellite markers to determine the level of paternity of the guarding type I males. We explored how paternity varied with male phenotype and across the breeding season. Our results revealed the lowest documented levels of paternity in a species with obligate paternal care. Although paternity remained consistently low, it did increase as the breeding season progressed. Male body size did not significantly predict paternity. The low paternity in this species may be explained, in part, by aspects of their reproductive ecology including the duration of parental care period, limited nest availability and competition for nests, as well as the occurrence of nest takeovers. Overall, our findings contribute to the understanding of the ultimate factors underlying ARTs in this species and highlight the importance of investigating reproductive success across the entire breeding season. 相似文献
4.
James V. Briskie Robert Montgomerie Tarmo Põldmaa Peter T. Boag 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1998,43(3):181-190
In species where females copulate with more than one male during a single breeding attempt, males risk investing in offspring
that are not their own. In the polygynandrous Smith's longspur (Calcarius pictus), females copulate sequentially with one to three males for each clutch of eggs and most of these males later assist in feeding
the young. Using multilocus DNA profiling, we determined that there was mixed paternity in >75% of broods (n=31) but that few offspring (<1% of 114 nestlings) were sired by males outside the polygynandrous group. Male feeding rate
increased significantly with the number of young sired, with males siring four nestlings feeding the brood at double the frequency
of males siring only a single nestling. However, male Smith's longspurs appear to show a graded adjustment of paternal care
in response to paternity only when other males are available to compensate for reduced care: feeding rate did not vary in
relation to paternity when only one male provisioned young at the nest. There was no evidence that males could recognise their
own offspring within a brood and feed them preferentially. The number of offspring sired by each male was significantly correlated
with the number of days spent copulating with the attending female: on average, a male sired one offspring for every 2 days
of copulatory access. If males use their access to females to estimate paternity (and thereby decide on their subsequent level
of parental investment), a positive relationship is expected between the amount of female access and the subsequent feeding
rate to the nestlings. Nonetheless, male feeding effort was only weakly correlated with female access and more study is needed
to determine how males estimate their paternity in a brood.
Received: 1 June 1997 / Accepted after revision: 1 April 1998 相似文献
5.
Michelle Pellissier Scott 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1990,26(1):31-39
Summary Parental behavior that has an impact on the increased survival of offspring, an important factor in the evolution of parental care, can include both guarding and provisioning. The effects of these two components of parental care can be separated and quantified in the burying beetle Nicrophorus orbicollis in which both male and female cooperate to rear young. Although in the absence of competition, reproductive success is reduced by the presence of the second parent in the brood chamber, two parents dramatically reduce the probability that conspecifics will usurp the resource, replace either the male or female, kill the newly hatched brood, and produce a replacement clutch. After the establishment of the burial chamber (but not before) beetles appear to assist their mates in driving off intrasexual competitors. Male assistance in burial does not account for very much of the variance in the speed in which the carcass can be concealed nor are two parents essential to guard against insect predators. There were no significant differences in the duration of parental care by males paired with virgin and non-virgin females suggesting that paternity of the brood for which the male provides care is not a factor determining the length of care. Since male and female reproductive success is limited in Nicrophorus by access to suitable carcasses, many of the typical asymmetries in the costs and benefits of parental care are lacking. However since sperm displacement is not complete, paternity of the replacement clutch, for which the male does not provide care, may be a factor encouraging male desertion before female desertion. Other factors important in the evolution of paternal care, especially the probability of additional reproductive opportunities, are discussed. 相似文献
6.
In temperate passerines, increased testosterone (T) levels during breeding mediate male aggressive and mating behaviour. If individual variability in T levels is reflected in behavioural differences during mating, males with higher T might gain higher reproductive success. This can be tested experimentally by elevating T levels. However, high exogenous T levels are known to have negative effects on male sperm production. This may reduce male fitness, particularly if sperm competition is intense. We experimentally elevated T levels in breeding blue tit males to investigate how T levels above the natural mean influence male reproductive success. Contrary to most—if not all—previous experimental manipulations of T levels in birds, we restricted the treatment with exogenous T to the time when females were fertile and T levels were naturally high in males. In blue tits, extra-pair paternity is an important component of male reproductive success, and its frequency is likely influenced by androgen-mediated behaviours such as mate attraction and aggression towards other males. Here we show that T-males were equally likely to become cuckolded and did not gain more extra-pair paternity than control males. Cuckolded T-males, however, lost more paternity than control males. We discuss the possibility that this is caused by negative effects of T treatment on sperm production.Communicated by M. Webster 相似文献
7.
Peter O. Dunn Raleigh J. Robertson Denise Michaud-Freeman Peter T. Boag 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1994,35(4):273-281
Recent studies of monogamous tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor) suggest that females may receive some type of genetic benefit from extra-pair fertilizations. In this study we attempted to determine what type of genetic benefits might be gained by females. We compared numerous morphological and behavioral traits (Table 1) of every male nesting on one grid of nest-boxes (n = 23) to determine what male traits were correlated with male success at gaining extra-pair fertilizations. DNA fingerprinting revealed an increase in the level of extra-pair paternity from the previous year (50% of broods contained extra-pair young in 1990 vs. 87% of broods in 1991), but no significant correlates of paternity. We found six extra-pair fathers at seven nests (20 nests had extra-pair young). The traits of these extra-pair males did not differ from those of the males they cuckolded. We discuss several reasons for this lack of difference, but argue that our results are not inconsistent with females choosing extra-pair males to enhance the genotypic quality of their offspring. Despite a complete search of the nest-box grid for extra-pair fathers, we were able to explain the paternity of just 21% (13/63) of all extra-pair young. This suggests that extra-pair fathers were either residents off our study grid or non-territorial floaters. Tree swallows are quite mobile and spend only part of the day at their nest prior to laying. In addition, we rarely see swallows visiting other grids of nest-boxes. Therefore, we suggest that most extra-pair copulations occur at some unknown location, possibly at a feeding or roosting area where females may be able to choose from many more potential extra-pair fathers than at their nest-site. 相似文献
8.
A potential cost of polygyny that may have restrained its evolution in some avian species is the presence of extra-pair offspring in the nests of males mated with several females. However, this relationship is not frequently found and an experimental approach investigating the association between extra-pair offspring and polygyny, while controlling for male traits related to polygyny, has not been undertaken. In this study, we manipulated the testosterone levels of facultatively polygynous spotless starlings, Sturnus unicolor, to establish experimentally different groups of polygyny and analyse its influence on levels of extra-pair offspring in males for which other traits were randomised. During two consecutive breeding seasons, we examined the effects of harem size on the ability of males to assure genetic paternity, assessed by DNA fingerprinting, and on reproductive success in their own nests. The frequency of extra-pair fertilisations varied between 10% (14/140) in 1996 and 20% (39/194) in 1997. Year-to-year analyses of extra-pair paternity variables with treatment as factor and harem size (number of simultaneous mated females) as covariate, were significant only in relation to harem size. Males with few simultaneously mated females were less cuckolded than more polygynous males in 1997 but not in 1996, indicating that mating costs of polygyny occurred, at least in the year with the higher rate of extra-pair paternity. Because polygynous males have more social mates, they may accrue higher reproductive success irrespective of their risk of being cuckolded. However, our results suggest that to be polygynous is costly in terms of paternity loss when we experimentally induce mating status controlling for individual male traits. However, the low values of our power tests for the statistically non-significant results of hormone on cuckoldry do not allow us to discard this hormone effect altogether. 相似文献
9.
Mixed reproductive strategy and mate guarding in a semi-colonial passerine,the swallow Hirundo rustica 总被引:6,自引:0,他引:6
Anders Pape Møller 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1985,17(4):401-408
Summary Both male and female swallows Hirundo rustica have a mixed reproductive strategy (parental care for offspring and extra-pair couplations). Mate guarding protects females from male harassment and male swallows from being cuckolded. Females hide their fertile period by copulating successfully with their mates for an extended period during first clutches. Males guard in the pre-fertile period, when many unpaired males are present. Early breeding swallows guard more than late breeders since more sexual chases of females by non-mate males take place in the early period. Solitarily breeding females experience few chases by strange males; copulation frequency, length of copulation period and mate guarding is adjusted to a lower level than among colonial birds. Male guarding activity is more intense in the fertile than in the pre-fertile period. Guarding reduces success of extra-pair copulation attempts.Three female swallows each paired and copulated with a single male and later changed to a new male before starting to breed. Extra-pair copulations most often take place between neighbouring swallows in the fertile period of the female. Many old, early breeding males and many young, late breeding females participate in extra-pair couplations. Successful extra-pair copulations peak in the fertile period contrary to success of pair copulations which does not change during the copulation period. 相似文献
10.
Susan L. Balenger L. Scott Johnson Brian S. Masters 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2009,63(3):403-411
Ornamental traits are thought to evolve because they give individuals an advantage in securing multiple mates. Thus, the presence
of ornamentation among males in many monogamous bird species presents something of a conundrum. Under certain conditions,
extra-pair paternity can increase the variance in reproductive success among males, thus increasing the potential for sexual
selection to act. We addressed this possibility in the mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), a socially monogamous songbird in which males possess brilliant ultraviolet (UV)-blue plumage. Specifically, we asked whether
a male’s success at siring offspring within his own nest and within the nests of other males was related to his coloration.
In pairwise comparisons, males that sired extra-pair offspring were not more colorful than the males that they cuckolded.
However, males that sired at least one extra-pair offspring were, on average, brighter and more UV-blue than males that did
not sire extra-pair offspring. Brighter, more UV-blue males sired more offspring both with their own mate and tended to sire
more offspring with extra-pair mates and thus sired more offspring overall. Our results support the hypothesis that the brilliant
UV-blue ornamental plumage of male mountain bluebirds evolved at least in part because it provides males with an advantage
in fertilizing the eggs of multiple females. 相似文献
11.
Katrin Brauch Keith Hodges Antje Engelhardt Kerstin Fuhrmann Eric Shaw Michael Heistermann 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(9):1453-1466
In a wide variety of species, male reproductive success is determined by contest for access to females. Among multi-male primate
groups, however, factors in addition to male competitive ability may also influence paternity outcome, although their exact
nature and force is still largely unclear. Here, we have investigated in a group of free-ranging Barbary macaques whether
paternity is determined on the pre- or postcopulatory level and how male competitive ability and female direct mate choice
during the female fertile phase are related to male reproductive success. Behavioural observations were combined with faecal
hormone analysis for timing of the fertile phase (13 cycles, 8 females) and genetic paternity analysis (n = 12). During the fertile phase, complete monopolisation of females did not occur. Females were consorted for only 49% of
observation time, and all females had ejaculatory copulations with several males. Thus, in all cases, paternity was determined
on the postcopulatory level. More than 80% of infants were sired by high-ranking males, and this reproductive skew was related
to both, male competitive ability and female direct mate choice as high-ranking males spent more time in consort with females
than low-ranking males, and females solicited copulations mainly from dominant males. As most ejaculatory copulations were
female-initiated, female direct mate choice appeared to have the highest impact on male reproductive success. However, female
preference was not directly translated into paternity, as fathers were not preferred over non-fathers in terms of solicitation,
consortship and mating behaviour. Collectively, our data show that in the Barbary macaque, both sexes significantly influence
male mating success, but that sperm of several males generally compete within the female reproductive tract and that therefore
paternity is determined by mechanisms operating at the postcopulatory level. 相似文献
12.
Craig W. LaMunyon 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1994,34(6):403-408
Paternity of offspring in natural populations of insects has received little attention due to the difficulties inherent in following females and sampling each of their mates. Here, an existing statistical technique is modified to estimate paternity based on allozyme variation found in the female and her last mate, thus allowing paternity in nature to be studied by collecting copulating pairs of insects. Using this technique, paternity was investigated in naturally-occurring females of the arctiid moth Utetheisa ornatrix. These females mate promiscuously: upon dissection, they were found to contain up to 13 spermatophores. Statistical paternity estimation revealed considerable variation in the share of offspring sired by the female's last mate: approximately 25% of the males sired all the offspring, while another 25% fathered no offspring; the remainder sired at least some offspring. The proportion of offspring sired by the last male did not correlate with latency to oviposition, the extent of previous mating by the female, or male wing length. Male U. ornatrix are known to make substantial nuptial investments during mating, and this study shows that mating males frequently sire few or no offspring. Thus, male moths stand a chance of being cuckolded. 相似文献
13.
Ola Svensson Maria Lissåker Kenyon B. Mobley 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(8):1325-1331
When parental care is costly, parents should avoid caring for unrelated young. Therefore, it is an advantage to discriminate
between related and unrelated offspring so that parents can make informed decisions about parental care. In the present study,
we test the hypothesis that male sand gobies (Pomatoschistus minutus) recognize and differentially care for their own offspring when given a choice between a nest with sired eggs and a second
nest with eggs sired by an unrelated male. The sand goby is a species with exclusive and costly paternal care. Male parasitic
spawnings (e.g., sneaking) as well as nest takeovers by other males are common. Our results show that nests containing sired
eggs were preferred and received significantly more care, as measured by nest building and nest occupancy, than nests with
foreign eggs even when males cared for both nests. These findings suggest that males respond to paternity cues and recognize
their own clutches. Relative clutch size also had a significant effect on male parental care. When sired clutches were larger
than foreign clutches, males preferred to care for their own nest. In the few cases where males chose to take care of foreign
nests, the foreign clutch was larger than their own clutch. Taken together, our results provide evidence that both paternity
cues and clutch size influence parenting decisions among male sand gobies. 相似文献
14.
M. Genevieve W. Jones N. M. S. Mareile Techow Peter G. Ryan 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2012,66(9):1213-1224
Genetic techniques have revealed surprisingly high rates of extra-pair paternity (EPP) in socially monogamous albatrosses. We sought to establish social and genetic influences on EPP in wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) at Marion Island, where EPP rates were 14–24?% in three successive seasons. EPP probably resulted from both female solicited extra-pair behaviours and male forced copulations. EPP was not linked to breeding experience nor with poor reproductive performance, despite a tendency for pairs to consistently produce either EPP or within-pair paternity (WPP) chicks. Mate guarding may inhibit extra-pair behaviour; however, parental arrival date and presence in the colony prior to laying did not correlate with EPP. There was little support for genetic advantages to producing EPP chicks, but the population is characterised by low genetic variability, which may result in mate incompatibility. Mates of pairs that failed and pairs producing EPP young tended to be more similar genetically to their partners than mates producing WPP young, suggesting that EPP may counter mate incompatibility. EPP and WPP chicks grow equally well, so cuckolded males did not reduce investment in EPP chicks. The lack of discriminatory behaviour by cuckolded males together with low genetic diversity in the population may allow continued high levels of EPP. In albatrosses, pair bonds are typically long lasting and the costs of forming new pairings may discourage mate swapping. Females may undertake extra-pair copulations as an adaptive alternative to mate swapping because the costs of extra-pair behaviour are small. 相似文献
15.
Factors that affect extra-pair mating in birds are likely to vary across the breeding season. Changing densities of active
nests may alter the opportunities for extra-pair mating, and parental duties may alter a male’s opportunity to guard his mate
from extra-pair mating. The latter affects species with multiple broods, where males care for fledglings from first nests
while females initiate second nests. We studied a population of multi-brooded American robins (Turdus migratorius) to assess how seasonal changes in nesting density and changes in mate-guarding opportunity influenced paternity patterns
over successive breeding attempts. Extra-pair paternity (EPP) occurred in 71.9% of broods and accounted for 48.1% of young.
High nesting densities in the study population may explain the high overall rate of EPP, but seasonal variation in breeding
density did not explain patterns of EPP among nests. Contrary to the predictions of the mate-guarding hypothesis, EPP did
not increase in the second nests that followed successful first nests, and the percentage of extra-pair young in second nests
did not decline as the overlap between successive nests increased. The fact that EPP was actually lower when the interval
between clutches was shorter suggests that the sooner the males can assume sole care of first broods and allow their mates
to renest (indicative of superior paternal quality), the more paternity they realize in the next nest. These results suggest
that mate-guarding opportunity does not influence paternity in this population of American robins and that female robins may
allocate paternity based on their assessment of male parental performance at first nests. 相似文献
16.
Brian J. Olsen Russell Greenberg Robert C. Fleischer Jeffrey R. Walters 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,63(2):285-294
Over the past two decades, the combination of molecular and field methods has revealed considerable variation in the level
of extrapair fertilizations among socially monogamous birds. Models predicting extrapair young range in scale from a single
population to multiple Orders, and there is no single, unifying theory for these reproductive tactics. We investigated proximate
explanations of extrapair fertilizations in two subspecies of the swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana georgiana and Melospiza georgiana nigrescens, across a range of social and environmental conditions. The presence of extrapair young was best predicted by the size of
two male plumage badges (one correlated with parental care and one with territorial aggression) relative to the badge size
of their immediate neighbors, the interaction of these two measures, mean territory size, and the maximum size of the aggression
badge among neighbors. The size of the male’s parental care badge (relative to neighbors) was negatively correlated with the
probability of lost paternity. The relative size of the aggression badge was positively correlated with the presence of extrapair
young when the parental care badge was small and negatively correlated when the badge was large. Controlling for these crown
measures, males with larger territories were less likely to suffer losses in paternity. There was no effect of breeding density,
breeding synchrony, their interaction, subspecies, or weather during the fertile period on the presence of extrapair young.
These results suggest that female preference for males that provide more parental care (or preference for genes that convey
this trait) plays a dominant role in extrapair interactions among swamp sparrows. Models based on female assessments of relative
mate quality offer a promising explanation of patterns in extrapair fertilizations among bird species. 相似文献
17.
A comprehensive understanding of sexual selection requires knowledge of the traits and mechanisms responsible for increasing a male’s paternity share (proportion of progeny sired) relative to that of other males mating with the same female. In this study we manipulated by starvation the expression of traits that might influence male paternity share in Tribolium castaneum. We then conducted experiments to examine how male starvation affects male performance during sequential episodes of sexual selection from mating to progeny production, and investigated female control over specific stages by using live vs dead females. Comparison of starved vs fed males revealed that T. castaneum females have control over spermatophore transfer during mating, as live females rejected inseminations by starved (“low quality”) males. None of the measured male copulatory behaviors (leg-rubbing frequency, asymmetry, and percent of time spent rubbing) affected the probability of successful insemination, but the last two were positively associated with male paternity share. Spermatophore positioning within the female reproductive tract was not affected by male treatment (starved/fed), by female treatment (live/dead), or by male copulatory behaviors. Starvation, however, had a dramatic effect on male reproductive physiology, decreasing both accessory gland size and total number of sperms transferred (but not sperm viability in seminal vesicles). In addition, females who mated to starved males stored fewer sperms in their spermathecae, which, together with decreased ejaculate size, may explain the reduced paternity share of starved males compared to fed males. This study elucidates some cryptic mechanisms influencing male reproductive success and aids our understanding of trait evolution through sexual selection. 相似文献
18.
Parental care is a costly part of reproduction. Hence, natural selection should favor males which avoid caring for unrelated
young. However, the decision to abandon or reduce care requires cues which are evaluated to give information on potential
reproductive value of the offspring. The prediction that male sand gobies, Pomatoschistus minutus, care for foreign eggs as long as they were spawned in their own nest and at least some of such cues are fulfilled was tested.
Egg-guarding males that had recently taken part in a spawning event were given a clutch of eggs that was sired either by themselves
or another male, in either their own or another male’s aquarium. Males that had not taken part in a spawning event were used
as controls and were given eggs sired by another male. We measured the amount of filial cannibalism and nest building. Control
group males did not care for eggs and ate them all before rebuilding the nest. In the other treatments, there were no significant
effects of paternity, though males moved to another male’s aquarium increased their clutch area threshold and completely consumed
larger clutches than males that were not moved. There was no intermediate response in any treatment in the form of increased
partial filial cannibalism or less well-constructed nests. Our results suggest that egg-guarding males cannot distinguish
between eggs sired by themselves and those sired by other males but are able to react to cues indicating paternity state.
Males do not adopt eggs to attract females in P. minutus. 相似文献
19.
Corey R. Freeman-Gallant 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1997,40(6):395-400
Empirical relationships between parentage and male parental care are commonly interpreted in the context of life-history
models that consider increased offspring survivorship as the only benefit of paternal effort. However, indirect benefits associated
with male care can also influence a male's response to cuckoldry: if females allocate paternity according to their prior experience
with male parental care, it may pay for males to provision extra-pair young in early broods. Here, I assess the relationship
between first-brood parentage and paternal care in a population of Savannah sparrows (Passerculussandwichensis) where a male's fertilization success in the second brood appears to be influenced by his prior parental performance. Based
on the multi-locus DNA fingerprinting of 17 first broods, male feeding effort was influenced by parentage (percent of brood
resulting from within-pair fertilizations) but not by brood size, male mating status (monogamous versus polygynous), timing
of breeding (hatching date), structural size (wing length) or condition (mass). Males provided more care to broods that contained
few within-pair young. This result supports the idea that males provision young to increase their future mating success, but
alternative hypotheses involving male quality and timing of breeding cannot be excluded.
Received: 13 August 1996 / Accepted after revision: 22 February 1997 相似文献
20.
Daniel S. Townsend 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1986,19(3):187-195
Summary Parental care is practiced exclusively by males of the Puerto Rican frog, Eleutherodactylus coqui. Males brood clutches of direct-developing eggs in non-aquatic nest sites and defend eggs against cannibalistic nest intruders. Here, I report on energetic and mating costs incurred by males that provide parental care, and suggest how these proximate costs affect male fitness and the evolution of male parental care in this species. Energetic costs are small for brooding males in comparison to non-brooding, calling males. Brooding males had a higher frequency of empty stomachs and lost small, but significant, fractions of their initial body mass during parental care. Abdominal fat bodies of brooding males during the middle third of parental care were significantly smaller than those of calling males; those of males brooding eggs in earlier or later stages were not different. The mating cost of parental care is greater. Most brooding males cease calling during parental care. However, gravid females are available (i.e., known to mate) on most nights during the principal breeding season; hence non-calling males miss potential opportunities to mate. A mating cost was estimated by calculating nightly mating probabilities for calling males in a plot where nightly calling male densities and daily oviposition schedules were known. On average, a male exhibiting normal calling behavior would be expected to obtain a new mate once every 35.7 days. Hence a brooding male that ceased calling for a 20-day parental care period would miss, on average, 0.56 additional mates. Males that were more successful than average in attracting mates could miss up to 1.63 matings. A marginal value model (Fig. 1) is used to analyze the net effect on male fitness of parental care benefits and costs in E. coqui (Fig. 3). The model indicates that males garner the highest reproductive success by providing care from oviposition through hatching. There is no stage during the pre-hatching period at which a desertion strategy would yield higher reproductive success. In fact, the model suggests that males should provide full parental care even in the face of much higher mating costs than currently obtain in the system. 相似文献