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1.
Dominance status influences the fitness of many mammals. Using African striped mice Rhabdomys pumilio, we tested whether (1) dominant females have greater reproductive success than subordinate females, (2) dominant females
influence the reproductive output of subordinate females when they are housed in close proximity, (3) reproductive output
of a female changes in response to the dominance status of her neighbours, and (4) whether prolonged association between individuals
influences the variance in reproductive success between dominants and subordinates (i.e. the ‘dear enemy’ phenomenon). The
size and mass of litters of dominants increased significantly when housed adjacent to subordinates than when housed apart.
The litter size and mass of subordinates remained unchanged, although subordinates spent significantly more time with their
pups when housed close to dominants than when housed apart; time spent with pups by dominants remained unchanged. Moreover,
females modified their reproductive output and behaviour in relation to the dominance status of their neighbours. Following
prolonged association, dominants still had greater reproductive success, but now, the time spent with pups decreased in subordinates.
We suggest that dominants adopt a strategy to increase the reproductive value of their litter, whereas subordinates adopt
a pup defence strategy. These strategies are flexible and are influenced by the dominance status and period of association
between neighbours, so that females could maximize their fitness in response to varying social conditions. 相似文献
2.
Human male height is associated with mate choice and intra-sexual competition, and therefore potentially with reproductive
success. A literature review (n = 18) on the relationship between male height and reproductive success revealed a variety of relationships ranging from negative
to curvilinear to positive. Some of the variation in results may stem from methodological issues, such as low power, including
men in the sample who have not yet ended their reproductive career, or not controlling for important potential confounders
(e.g. education and income). We investigated the associations between height, education, income and the number of surviving
children in a large longitudinal sample of men (n = 3,578; Wisconsin Longitudinal Study), who likely had ended their reproductive careers (e.g. > 64 years). There was a curvilinear
association between height and number of children, with men of average height attaining the highest reproductive success.
This curvilinear relationship remained after controlling for education and income, which were associated with both reproductive
success and height. Average height men also married at a younger age than shorter and taller men, and the effect of height
diminished after controlling for this association. Thus, average height men partly achieved higher reproductive success by
marrying at a younger age. On the basis of our literature review and our data, we conclude that men of average height most
likely have higher reproductive success than either short or tall men. 相似文献
3.
Risk taking during parental care: a test of three hypotheses applied to the pied flycatcher 总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2
According to life-history theory, there will often be a conflict between investment in current versus future reproduction.
If a predator appears during breeding, parents must make a compromise between ensuring the growth and survival of offspring
(nest defence, feeding and brooding of young), and reducing the risk of predation to ensure their own survival. We model three
hypotheses for the outcome of this conflict which are particularly relevant for altricial birds. They are not mutually exclusive,
but focus on different costs and benefits. (1) Parental investment is determined by the parents’ own risk of predation. This
hypothesis predicts that a lone parent should take smaller risks than a parent that has a mate. (2) Parental investment is
related to the reproductive value of the offspring: Parents are predicted to take greater risks for larger broods, larger-sized
or older offspring. (3) Finally, we present the new hypothesis that parental investment is related to the harm that offspring
would suffer during a period of no parental care (incubation, brooding, feeding). This hypothesis predicts that parents should
take greater risks for younger offspring, or for offspring in poorer condition, because the marginal benefit of parental care
is largest in such cases. Hence, one may also expect that lone parents should take greater risks than two parents because
their offspring are more in need of care. We tested these hypotheses on the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) by presenting a stuffed predator of the parents (a sparrowhawk, Accipiter nisus) close to the nest when parents were feeding the young. Risk taking was measured as the time that elapsed until the first
visit to the nest. Most support was found for the ‘‘harm to offspring’’ hypothesis. Previous studies have usually measured
the intensity of nest defence against typical nest predators, and have found evidence for the ‘‘reproductive value of offspring’’
hypothesis. However, our model predicts that the importance of the reproductive value of the offspring should decrease relative
to the harm that offspring would suffer if they were not cared for when the predator type changes from a nest predator to
a predator of adults, and when conditions for breeding turn from good to bad.
Received: 13 April 1995/Accepted after revision: 11 March 1996 相似文献
4.
Scott Forbes 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2010,64(3):475-483
In avian families, some offspring are rendered unequal by parental fiat. By imposing phenotypic handicaps (e.g., via asynchronous
hatching) upon certain of their offspring and not others, parents structure the sibship into castes of advantaged “core” offspring
and disadvantaged “marginal” offspring that results in an asymmetric sibling rivalry. Here, I show how this family structure
scales up to population level reproductive consequences. In a 17-year study of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), I show that year-to-year variation in the number of surviving offspring is driven primarily by variation in the number
of marginal offspring at hatching and their posthatching survival. Clutch size, core brood at hatching, and fledging varied
little from year to year and had little direct effect on year-to-year variation in total brood size at fledging; conversely,
variation in the size of the marginal brood at hatching and at fledging was much greater. Marginal but not core brood size
at hatching rose with mean clutch size; in years where parents laid larger average clutches they did so by adding marginal
progeny. The mean posthatching survival of marginal offspring was always lower than that of core offspring in a given year,
and there was no overlap in the distributions. The highest mean survival of marginal offspring across years fell below the
lowest mean survival of core offspring; broods were deeply structured. There was an overall female bias among fledglings,
and the sex ratio varied across years, with a higher proportion of the smaller female nestlings in years of below average
reproductive success. Such variation was especially pronounced in the marginal brood where a higher incidence of brood reduction
allowed greater potential for sex-biased nestling mortality. In years of the highest average reproductive success, the sex
ratio in the marginal brood approached equality, whereas in years of the lowest average reproductive success, more than two
thirds of 8-day-old nestlings were female. Structuring the brood into core and marginal elements allowed parents to modulate
both offspring number and sex under ecological uncertainty with direct consequences for population-level reproductive success.
They produced fewer and less expensive fledglings in below average years and more and more expensive fledglings in above average
years. 相似文献
5.
Szabolcs Lengyel 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(4):589-598
When reproductive success is constant in one breeding phase, different tactics that increase variation in reproductive success
among individuals may evolve in other phases. For instance, in shorebirds, which usually have a limited clutch size of four
eggs, variation in reproductive tactics among individuals is expected either before egg-laying (e.g. diverse mating systems)
or after hatching of the young (e.g. diverse parental care). In this paper, I studied the pied avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta), a shorebird with a modal clutch size of four eggs, to test whether post-hatch chick adoption as an alternative tactic can
be linked to increased variation in annual reproductive success. When predation was high, naturally adopting pairs produced
more filial fledglings than did pairs not adopting chicks and not losing chicks to adoption. The number of filial fledglings
increased with the number of adopted young, possibly through diluting the chances of predation on filial young. Experimental
chick addition did not lead to more fledged young due to low brood integrity as shown by the frequent loss of chicks from
some experimental broods. When predation was low, larger broods occupied feeding territories with higher prey abundance than
smaller broods, possibly due to their dominance over smaller ones. Pairs that lost chicks to adoption (donors) fledged as
many filial young in their broods as did non-adopters/non-donors, whereas the total number of donors’ filial fledglings, including
those raised in adopting broods, approached that of adopters. These findings show, for the first time, that post-hatch alternative
reproductive tactics can lead to variation in annual reproductive success and to higher success for some pairs even in species
where past adaptations limit variation in reproductive success in a certain phase of reproduction. 相似文献
6.
Male reproductive success of the broadcast-spawning gorgonian, Plexaura kuna Lasker, Kim and Coffroth, 1996, was measured in June 1994 and June and July 1995 at two sites in the San Blas Islands, Panamá
in order to determine the environmental and biotic factors affecting individual reproductive success. Developing embryos were
collected in the field during natural spawning events, and paternity determined using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA markers.
Analyses of F1 progeny from defined laboratory matings established that the markers were inherited in Mendelian fashion, and allowed the
determination of the zygosities of the markers. P. kuna is clonal, but male reproductive success was not strictly proportional to clone size. Proximity to females appeared to have
a greater effect on male reproductive success than clone size, and on both reefs the most successful male clone was the one
closest to the spawning female clone. Current direction and transport of gametes by eddies explained variation in paternity
assignments between nights. Clonal propagation allows clones to grow and spread toward each other, and may enhance male reproductive
success.
Received: 1 April 1997 / Accepted: 11 February 1998 相似文献
7.
Female control of offspring paternity in a western population of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) 总被引:9,自引:0,他引:9
E. M. Gray 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》1996,38(4):267-278
Extra-pair copulations, which occur when individuals that have formed social relationships to breed copulate outside their
pairbond, now are recognized as an important component of reproductive success in many species. In situations where both males
and females benefit from extra-pair copulations without incurring much risk, an inevitable conflict arises between pairbonded
mates. In this study I investigated the conflict of interest between male and female reproductive strategies in a western
population of red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus). Female red wings in this population initiate extra-pair copulations, which resulted in a 35% rate of extra-pair fertilization.
Females initiated the majority (78%) of extra-pair copulations away from their nesting territory where pairbonded individuals
typically copulate, and females that engaged in extra-pair copulations spent a significantly greater amount of time off the
marsh during peak fertilization compared to females that did not. In addition, females that nested in areas with a large number
of potential extra-pair partners produced significantly more extra-pair fertilized young compared to females that nested on
marshes with few male neighbors. Males’ strategies to protect paternity were limited primarily to patrolling territory boundaries
and to opportunistically preventing extra-pair copulations off the marsh when they were visible. In this population females
appear to use behavioral means to control nestling paternity, which in turn directly affected their mate’s reproductive success,
and males were restricted to using strategies that were largely ineffective at preventing the threat of extra-pair paternity.
Received: 23 December 1994/Accepted after revision: 17 December 1995 相似文献
8.
Common goldeneyes adjust maternal effort in relation to prior brood success and not current brood size 总被引:3,自引:0,他引:3
Parental investment theory predicts that parental effort should be related to the reproductive value of the current brood.
This depends on both the number of young and the survival prospects of each of them. Thus parents may provide more care to
larger broods either because of (1) the direct effect of brood size per se on reproductive value (the “brood size” hypothesis)
or because (2) past mortality, reflected in current brood size, predicts future mortality of the brood and hence its reproductive
value (the “brood success” hypothesis). Earlier studies have not attempted to distinguish between these alternatives. We tested
the hypotheses in the precocial, nidifugous common goldeneye Bucephala clangula, a species with uniparental female care. Maternal effort was measured as the time spent by the female in rearing the brood.
We found that brood size itself is not associated with maternal effort, but that females modify their maternal effort according
to the mortality already experienced by the brood, supporting the prediction of the brood success hypothesis. We also found
that brood mortality varied considerably between broods and that previous mortality predicts future mortality within broods,
basic assumptions of the brood success hypothesis.
Received: 30 January 1996 / Accepted after revision: 27 October 1996 相似文献
9.
The reproductive trade-off hypothesis predicts that the investment made in current reproduction determines the breeders’ future fitness as a consequence of intra-or inter-generational reproductive costs. Long-lived species are expected to favour their own reproductive value at the expense of their offspring, hence incurring in inter-generational costs, whereas short-lived species are expected to invest in the current breeding attempt even at the expense of their own survival, thus incurring in intra-generational costs. We tested whether intensity of current reproductive effort has intra-or inter-generational costs in a short-lived bird, the blue tit Parus caeruleus, with a brood size manipulation experiment. We expected more intra-generational (parental reproduction and/or survival) than inter-generational (offspring quality and survival) reproductive costs. We found that parental effort, measured as the hourly rate of parental visits to nests, increased gradually with experimental manipulation. Brood size manipulation resulted in a gradual increase in the number of fledglings per nest from reduced to increased treatments. We found an effect of the manipulation on the probability of making a second clutch, with adults rearing enlarged broods being less likely to undertake such a second reproduction during the season compared to those rearing control or decreased broods. We found no evidence of other reproductive costs; neither as adult weight after manipulation, apparent parental local survival, apparent offspring local survival or local recruitment. Although the results seem to support the a priori expectations, alternative explanations are discussed.Communicated by M. Soler 相似文献
10.
Time constraints and multiple choice criteria in the sampling behaviour and mate choice of the fiddler crab,Uca annulipes 总被引:9,自引:0,他引:9
Active female sampling occurs in the fiddler crab Uca annulipes. Females sample the burrows of several males before remaining to mate in the burrow of the chosen partner. Females time larval
release to coincide with the following nocturnal spring tide and must therefore leave sufficient time for embryonic development
after mating. Here we show how this temporal constraint on search time affects female choosiness. We found that, at the start
of the sampling period (when time constraints are minimal), females selectively sample the larger males in the population.
Towards the end of the sampling period (when the temporal constraints increase the costs of sampling), females are less selective.
Furthermore, we suggest that the number of males sampled (and other indices of ‘‘sampling effort’’) may not be reliable indicators
of female choosiness and may not reflect the strength of female mating preferences under certain conditions. Burrow quality
also emerged as an important criterion in final mate choice. Burrow structure potentially influences reproductive success,
and mate acceptance based on burrow structure appears to involve a relatively invariant threshold criterion. Since there is
no relationship between male size and burrow quality, females are using at least two independent criteria when choosing potential
mates. We envisage mate choice as a two-stage process. First, females select which males to sample based on male size. They
then decide whether or not to mate with a male based on burrow features. This sampling process explains how two unrelated
variables can both predict male mating success.
Received: 23 March 1995/Accepted after revision: 14 January 1996 相似文献
11.
Mor Salomon David Mayntz Søren Toft Yael Lubin 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2011,65(6):1191-1202
Provisioning of nutrients to the young during parental care is one of the mechanisms by which parents can affect growth and
survival of their young and thus their reproductive success. We examined the hypothesis that food quality, i.e., ratio of
macronutrients, provided to the young via maternal care affects their performance and the female’s reproductive success. The
subsocial spider Stegodyphus lineatus exhibits intensive maternal care behaviors, including feeding the young and matriphagy (consumption of the mother). Our results
showed that a protein-enriched diet resulted in larger females at maturation and higher survival of young, relative to intermediate
or lipid-enriched diets. However, fecundity was not affected by female diet. We suggest that most of the nutrients are provided
to the young during maternal care rather than deposited in the eggs, allowing females to economize on limited nutritional
reserves. Females before maternal care showed a low protein and high lipid content relative to females before maturation and
oviposition, suggesting a change in the nutritional requirement of females before maternal care. This change in macronutrient
composition may be adaptive for the success of the young in the wild and shows a novel approach to animals’ ability to increase
their reproductive success. Field-collected females showed a similar macronutrient composition as that of protein-enriched
females in the lab, suggesting a high reproductive success of females in the wild. To our knowledge, this is the first time
the importance of different macronutrients to females’ reproductive success is examined during reproduction. 相似文献
12.
Maternal investment in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta): reproductive costs and consequences of raising sons 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Maternal investment in offspring is expected to vary according to offspring sex when the reproductive success of the progeny
is a function of differential levels of parental expenditure. We conducted a longitudinal investigation of rhesus macaques
to determine whether variation in male progeny production, measured with both DNA fingerprinting and short tandem repeat marker
typing, could be traced back to patterns of maternal investment. Males weigh significantly more than females at birth, despite
an absence of sex differences in gestation length. Size dimorphism increases during infancy, with maternal rank associated
with son’s, but not daughter’s, weight at the end of the period of maternal investment. Son’s, but not daughter’s, weight
at 1 year of age is significantly correlated with adult weight, and male, but not female, weight accounts for a portion of
the variance in reproductive success. Variance in annual offspring output was three- to fourfold higher in males than in females.
We suggest that energetic costs of rearing sons could be buffered by fetal delivery of testosterone to the mother, which is
aromatized to estrogen and fosters fat accumulation during gestation. We conclude that maternal investment is only slightly
greater in sons than in daughters, with mothers endowing sons with extra resources because son, but not daughter, mass has
ramifications for offspring sirehood. However, male reproductive tactics supersede maternal investment patterns as fundamental
regulators of male fitness.
Received: 23 July 1999 / Received in revised form: 23 February 2000 / Accepted: 13 March 2000 相似文献
13.
The number and maximum body size of the gobioid fish, Paragobiodon echinocephalus, increase with the size of its obligate host coral, Stylophora. Only the largest two individuals breed monogamously in each coral head, and the reproductive success of each spawning is
positively correlated with body size. In this study, the plasticity in size and age at maturity in P. echinocephalus was examined. We analyzed life history data from gobies 15–20 mm TL (total length) at their initial marking. Gobies found
in larger corals were of lower rank in size order and began to breed later at a larger size, usually upon moving to other
corals. The size at maturity ranged widely from 17.2 to 36.0 mm TL. After maturation, growth rates decreased. Mortality, however,
was not affected by the timing of maturation. The host coral size did not affect the growth and mortality of marked fish,
but the mortality rate of juveniles prior to marking appeared to be higher in smaller corals. The estimated lifetime reproductive
success did not differ between the gobies inhabiting corals of different size. Thus the plasticity in size and age at maturity
in this species may be maintained by frequency-dependent selection in choosing a host coral size that affects an individual’s
social status.
Received: 5 April 1995/Accepted after revision: 18 February 1996 相似文献
14.
Parental investment, potential reproductive rates, and mating system in the strawberry dart-poison frog, Dendrobates pumilio 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
We studied the effect of relative parental investment on potential reproductive rates (PRRs) to explain sex differences in
selectivity and competition in the dart-poison frog Dendrobates pumilio. We recorded the reproductive behavior of this species in a Costa Rican lowland rainforest for almost 6 months. Females spent
more time on parental care than males, and `time out' estimates suggest that PRRs of males are much higher than than those
of females, rendering females the limiting sex in the mating process. Males defended territories that provide suitable calling
sites, space for courtship and oviposition, and prevent interference by competitors. Male mating success was highly variable,
from 0 to 12 matings, and was significantly correlated with calling activity and average perch height, but was independent
of body size and weight. Estimates of opportunity for sexual selection and variation in male mating success are given. The
mating system is polygamous: males and females mated several times with different mates. Females were more selective than
males and may sample males between matings. The discrepancy in PRRs between the sexes due to differences in parental investment
and the prolonged breeding season is sufficient to explain the observed mating pattern i.e., selective females, high variance
in male mating success, and the considerable opportunity for sexual selection.
Received: 9 June 1998 / Received in revised form: 27 March 1999 / Accepted: 3 April 1999 相似文献
15.
Sjouke A. Kingma István Szentirmai Tamás Székely Veronika Bókony Maarten Bleeker András Liker Jan Komdeur 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2008,62(8):1277-1288
Melanin-based ornaments are often involved in signaling aggression and dominance, and their role in sexual selection is increasingly
recognized. We investigated the functions of a melanin-based plumage ornament (facial ‘mask’) in male Eurasian penduline tits
Remiz pendulinus in the contexts of male–male aggression, mating success, and parental care. The penduline tit is a passerine bird with a
unique mating system in which both sexes may mate with several mates in a breeding season, and one (or both) parent deserts
the clutch. Our study revealed that mask size of males is more likely an honest signal used by females in their mate choice
decisions than a trait involved in male–male competition. First, mask size increased with both age and body condition, indicating
that the mask may signal male quality. Second, males with larger masks paired more quickly and had more mates over the breeding
season than males with smaller masks. Third, we found no evidence that male mask size signals male–male aggression or dominance
during competitive encounters. The increased mating success of large-masked males, however, did not translate into higher
reproductive success, as nestling survival decreased with mask size. Therefore, we conclude that there is either no directional
selection on male mask size or males with larger masks receive indirect, long-term benefits. 相似文献
16.
Body size has often been related to reproductive success in bees and wasps. The objective of this 3-year study was to analyze
the relationship between nesting female body size, provisioning rate and longevity and their effect on several traits related
to parental investment and reproductive success in the solitary bee Osmia cornuta. Body size was not correlated to longevity, and it was only correlated to provisioning rate in the third year (with poor
weather conditions during nesting). Variation in fecundity, offspring size and offspring mortality was not well explained
by nesting female body size in any of the 3 years. However, in the third year, small females biased their investment toward
males, the sex requiring smaller pollen–nectar provisions. Large females were more successful usurpers of other females' nests,
but fecundity of usurpers was no higher than fecundity of nonusurpers. Large females were more likely to establish at the
release site, probably in relation to size-dependent vigor at emergence. A review of the literature on parental investment
in solitary aculeate Hymenoptera showed a stronger relationship between body size and reproductive success in wasps than in
bees. In O. cornuta, fecundity was strongly related to longevity and provisioning rate in all 3 years. Offspring size was associated with provisioning
rate in 1 year, when females with higher provisioning rates tended to produce larger sons and daughters. Both longevity and
provisioning rate appeared to be strongly conditioned by stochastic events. 相似文献
17.
We investigated the effects of population fluctuation on the offspring’s sex allocation by a weakly polygynous mouse, Apodemus argenteus, for 3 years. In acorn-poor seasons, heavier mothers invested more in sons, and lighter mothers invested more in daughters.
In acorn-rich seasons, heavier mothers invested more in daughters, and lighter mothers invested more in sons. Maternal body
condition and litter size affected the sex allocation. Furthermore, there was a maternal investment trade-off between a son’s
birth mass and the number of daughters. Based upon the effect of population fluctuation on the lifetime reproductive success
of each sex, we proposed the new “safe bet hypothesis”. This hypothesis predicts that frequent and unpredictable change in
female distribution, which is often caused by abrupt fall in food condition, favors female-biased maternal investment to offspring
by polygynous mammals and is applicable to many small mammals inhabiting in unstable environments. 相似文献
18.
Troy G. Murphy 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(6):911-918
Both males and females of many avian species maintain elaborate plumage traits, and elaborate monomorphic plumage may convey
adaptive benefits to one or both sexes as inter- or intraspecific signals. Both sexes of the turquoise-browed motmot (Eumomota superciliosa) are elaborately plumed with long racket-tipped tail. I investigated whether the racketed tail functions as a sexually selected
signal in one or both sexes by testing the predictions that males and/or females with the largest tails have: (1) greater
pairing success, (2) greater reproductive performance (clutch-initiation date, clutch size, and hatching success), and (3)
greater reproductive success. Yearling males with longer denuded rachises (wires) on the central tail feathers had greater
pairing success. In addition, adult males with longer wires paired with females who laid larger clutches, had greater hatching
success independent of clutch size, and fledged more young. There was no relationship between female tail plumage and pairing
success, reproductive performance, or fledgling success. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that male tail plumage
functions as a mate choice or status signal, but that the tail of the female does not function in a sexually selected context.
I discuss alternative hypotheses for the evolutionary maintenance of the elaborate female tail plumage. 相似文献
19.
We investigated the fledging probability of oystercatcher, Haematopus ostralegus, chicks as a function of hatching order, brood size, territory quality and food availability. Sibling dominance was related
to the hatching order in both low- (’leapfrogs’) and high-quality (’residents’) territories. Differences in hatchling mass
might have aided the establishment of a dominance hierarchy, since breeders produced small late eggs and hatchlings. These
mass differences were most pronounced in leapfrogs, and in large broods in years with lower food availability (’poor’ years).
Late hatchlings fledged less often and with lower body masses compared to early hatchlings in all situations. Leapfrogs produced
smaller broods and hatched their broods more asynchronously in poor years than leapfrogs breeding in years with more available
food (’good’ years) and residents breeding in both poor and good years. Large brood sizes resulted in lower survival of hatchlings
in poor years. These results favour the ’brood reduction’ hypothesis. However, contrary to the expectations of this hypothesis,
hatching order also affected fledging success in residents. Moreover, large brood size resulted in higher survival of hatchlings
in good years, particularly in residents. Thus, although large broods experienced losses due to sibling competition in some
years, they nevertheless consistently produced more fledglings per brood in all years, both as leapfrogs and residents. We
believe this effect is due to parental quality correlating with initial brood size. Most leapfrogs, at best, fledged one chick
successfully each year, losing chicks due to starvation. Nevertheless, leapfrog broods were reduced in size after hatching
significantly less quickly than resident broods. These results suggest that breeders lay and hatch insurance eggs to compensate
for unpredictable losses due to the high predation rates on both nests (ca 50%) and chicks (ca 90%), in accordance with the
’nest failure’ hypothesis.
Received: 14 February 2000 / Revised: 27 September 2000 / Accepted: 10 June 2000 相似文献
20.
Kathryn B. McNamara Therésa M. Jones Mark A. Elgar 《Behavioral ecology and sociobiology》2007,61(8):1177-1184
Male copulation experience may have a profound impact on female reproductive success if male reproductive investment declines
over consecutive copulations and if females are unlikely to re-mate. Male reproductive investment is particularly interesting
in lepidopterans because males produce dimorphic sperm: a fertilizing (eupyrene) and a non-fertilising (apyrene) sperm. In
two experiments, we explored the lifetime reproductive investment of male almond moths, Cadra cautella (also known as Ephestia cautella) and examined its influence on female reproductive success. In the almond moth, females re-mate infrequently and males transfer
sperm in a spermatophore. Attached to the spermatophore is a large chitinous process, the function of which is unknown. One
group of males were permitted consecutive copulations with virgin females and the amount of sperm and size of the spermatophore
transferred were compared for all females. We found that the number of both eupyrene and apyrene sperm per ejaculate decreased
with his increased mating frequency, while the size of the spermatophore process decreased dramatically after the male’s first
copulation. In a second experiment, we allowed males to mate with females throughout their lives and then compared female
fecundity and fertilisation success. We found no obvious decrease in female fecundity and fertilisation success with increased
male copulation experience, despite the likely reduction in male gametic investment. We discuss potential explanations for
the development of this enlarged and elaborate first spermatophore of male almond moths given that it confers no clear fitness
advantage to females. 相似文献