Variation among populations of the sailfin molly in the rate of concurrent multiple paternity and its implications for mating-system evolution |
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Authors: | Joel C Trexler Joseph Travis Andrea Dinep |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biological Science, Florida International University, Miami, FL 33199, USA Fax: 305-348-1986; e-mail: trexlerj@servax.fiu.edu, US;(2) Department of Biological Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-2043, USA, US;(3) P.O. Box 1347, Mississippi State, MS 39762-1347, USA, US |
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Abstract: | We examined patterns of concurrent multiple mating in a live-bearing poeciliid fish, the sailfin molly (Poecilia latipinna). We tested whether the probability of multiple paternity was related to female body size or fertility and whether the rate
of multiple paternity varied among four populations that differed in their distributions of female body size and fertility.
We analyzed data on mother and offspring genotypes for three polymorphic allozymes by three techniques, including a maximum-likelihood
estimator that accounts for sampling error in both parental and offspring allele frequencies. The estimated rate of multiple
paternity varied between 0.09 and 0.85, and the rate in one population varied seasonally between 0.33 (spring) and 0.85 (autumn).
The variation in these rates was not associated with variation in body-size distributions among populations but was closely
associated with variation in size-specific fertility: populations with greater variation in female fertility had higher multiple-paternity
rates. Within two populations, logistic regression revealed that individual females of larger body size and greater size-specific
fertility were more likely to carry multiply sired broods. This result is consistent with observations made in one of the
populations 5 years earlier. In general, the results strongly suggest that the mating system varies markedly among conspecific
populations of sailfin mollies and that larger, more fertile females are the objects of intermale competition.
Received: 6 May 1996 / Accepted in revised form: 5 December 1996 |
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Keywords: | Poecilia latipinna Mating system Multiple paternity Fertility Allozymes |
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