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134 results for “Extra-pair”
Data from: Demographic mechanisms of inbreeding adjustment through extra-pair reproduction
1. One hypothesis explaining extra-pair reproduction is that socially monogamous females mate with extra-pair males to adjust the coefficient of inbreeding (f) of extra-pair offspring (EPO) relative to that of within-pair offspring (WPO) they would produce with their socially paired male. Such adjustment of offspring f requires non-random extra-pair reproduction with respect to relatedness, which is in turn often assumed to require some mechanism of explicit pre-copulatory or post-copulatory kin discrimination. 2. We propose three demographic processes that could potentially cause mean f to differ between individual females' EPO and WPO given random extra-pair reproduction with available males without necessarily requiring explicit kin discrimination. Specifically, such a difference could arise if social pairings formed non-randomly with respect to relatedness or persisted non-randomly with respect to relatedness, or if the distribution of relatedness between females and their sets of potential mates changed during the period through which social pairings persisted. 3. We used comprehensive pedigree and pairing data from free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) to quantify these three processes and hence investigate how individual females could adjust mean offspring f through instantaneously random extra-pair reproduction. 4. Female song sparrows tended to form social pairings with unrelated or distantly related males slightly less frequently than expected given random pairing within the defined set of available males. Furthermore, social pairings between more closely related mates tended to be more likely to persist across years than social pairings between less closely related mates. However, these effects were small and the mean relatedness between females and their sets of potential extra-pair males did not change substantially across the years through which social pairings persisted. 5. Our framework and analyses illustrate how demographic and social structuring within populations might allow females to adjust mean f of offspring through random extra-pair reproduction without necessarily requiring explicit kin discrimination, implying that adjustment of offspring f might be an inevitable consequence of extra-pair reproduction. New theoretical and empirical studies are required to explore the general magnitude of such effects and quantify the degree to which they could facilitate or constrain long-term evolution of extra-pair reproduction.
Data from: Variation in parent-offspring kinship in socially monogamous systems with extra-pair reproduction and inbreeding
Female extra-pair reproduction in socially monogamous systems is predicted to cause cuckolded socially-paired males to conditionally reduce paternal care, causing selection against extra-pair reproduction and underlying polyandry. However, existing models and empirical studies have not explicitly considered that cuckolded males might be related to their socially-paired female and/or to her extra-pair mate, and therefore be related to extra-pair offspring that they did not sire but could rear. Selection against paternal care, and hence against extra-pair reproduction, might then be weakened. We derive metrics that quantify allele-sharing between within-pair and extra-pair offspring and their mother and her socially-paired male in terms of coefficients of kinship and inbreeding. We use song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) paternity and pedigree data to quantify these metrics, and thereby quantify the joint effects of extra-pair reproduction and inbreeding on a brood's total allelic value to its socially-paired parents. Cuckolded male song sparrows were almost always detectably related to extra-pair offspring they reared. Consequently, although brood allelic value decreased substantially following female extra-pair reproduction, this decrease was reduced by within-pair and extra-pair reproduction among relatives. Such complex variation in kinship within nuclear families should be incorporated into models considering co-evolutionary dynamics of extra-pair reproduction, parental care and inbreeding.
Data from: Extra-pair mating in a socially monogamous and paternal mouthbrooding cardinalfish
Many vertebrates form monogamous pairs to mate and care for their offspring. However, genetic tools have increasingly shown that many offspring arise from matings outside of the monogamous pair bond. Social monogamy is relatively common in coral reef fishes, but there have been relatively few studies that have confirmed monogamy or extra-pair reproduction, either for males or females. Here long-term observations and genetic tools were applied to examine the parentage of embryos in a paternally mouthbrooding cardinalfish, Sphaeramia nematoptera. Paternal care in fishes, such as mouth brooding, is thought to be associated with a high degree of confidence in paternity. Two-years of observations confirmed that S. nematoptera form long-term pair bonds within larger groups. However, genetic parentage revealed extra-pair mating by both sexes. Of 105 broods analysed from 64 males, 30.1% were mothered by a female that was not the partner and 11.5% of broods included eggs from two females. Despite the high paternal investment associated with mouthbrooding, 7.5% of broods were fertilised by two males. Extra-pair matings appeared to be opportunistic encounters with individuals from outside the immediate group. We argue that while pair formation contributes to group cohesion, both males and females can maximise lifetime reproductive success by taking advantage of extra-pair mating opportunities. The results contradict the theory that paternal care is associated with a high confidence in paternity.
Data from: Age-dependent trajectories differ between within-pair and extra-pair paternity success
Reproductive success is associated with age in many taxa, increasing in early life followed by reproductive senescence. In socially monogamous, but genetically polygamous species, this generates the interesting possibility of differential trajectories of within-pair and extra-pair siring success with age in males. We investigate these relationships simultaneously using within-individual analyses with 13 years of data from an insular house sparrow (Passer domesticus) population. As expected, we found that both within- and extra-pair paternity success increased with age, followed by a senescence-like decline. However, the age trajectories of within- and extra-pair paternity successes differed significantly, with the extra-pair paternity success increasing faster, albeit non-significantly so, in early life, and showing a delayed decline by 1.5 years on average later in life compared to within-pair paternity success. These different trajectories indicate that the two alternative mating tactics should have age-dependent payoffs. Males may partition their reproductive effort between within- and extra-pair matings depending on their current age in order to reap the maximal combined benefit from both strategies. The interplay between these mating strategies and age-specific mortality may explain the variation in rates of extra-pair paternity observed within and between-species.
Data from: The influence of nonrandom extra-pair paternity on heritability estimates derived from wild pedigrees
Quantitative genetic analysis is often fundamental for understanding evolutionary processes in wild populations. Avian populations provide a model system due to the relative ease of inferring relatedness amongst individuals through observation. However, extra-pair paternity (EPP) creates erroneous links within the social pedigree. Previous work has suggested this causes minor underestimation of heritability if paternal misassignment is random and hence not influenced by the trait being studied. Nevertheless, much literature suggests numerous traits are associated with EPP and the accuracy of heritability estimates for such traits remains unexplored. We show analytically how non-random pedigree errors can influence heritability estimates. Then, combining empirical data from a large great tit (Parus major) pedigree with simulations, we assess how heritability estimates derived from social pedigrees change depending on the mode of the relationship between EPP and the focal trait. We show that the magnitude of the underestimation is typically small (<15%). Hence, our analyses suggest that quantitative genetic inference from pedigrees derived from observations of social relationships are relatively robust; our approach also provides a widely-applicable method for assessing the consequences of non-random EPP.
Data from: Female and male genetic effects on offspring paternity: additive genetic (co)variances in female extra-pair reproduction and male paternity success in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)
Ongoing evolution of polyandry, and consequent extra-pair reproduction in socially monogamous systems, is hypothesised to be facilitated by indirect selection stemming from cross-sex genetic covariances with components of male fitness. Specifically, polyandry is hypothesised to create positive genetic covariance with male paternity success due to inevitable assortative reproduction, driving ongoing coevolution. However, it remains unclear whether such covariances could or do emerge within complex polyandrous systems. First, we illustrate that genetic covariances between female extra-pair reproduction and male within-pair paternity success might be constrained in socially monogamous systems where female and male additive genetic effects can have opposing impacts on the paternity of jointly reared offspring. Second, we demonstrate non-zero additive genetic variance in female liability for extra-pair reproduction and male liability for within-pair paternity success, modelled as direct and associative genetic effects on offspring paternity respectively, in free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). The posterior mean additive genetic covariance between these liabilities was slightly positive, but the credible interval was wide and overlapped zero. Therefore, while substantial total additive genetic variance exists, the hypothesis that ongoing evolution of female extra-pair reproduction is facilitated by genetic covariance with male within-pair paternity success cannot yet be definitively supported or rejected either conceptually or empirically.
Data from: Female ground tits prefer relatives as extra-pair partners: driven by kin-selection?
Socially monogamous female birds routinely mate with males outside the pair bond. Three alternative hypotheses consider genetic benefits as the major driver behind the female strategy. The inbreeding avoidance hypothesis predicts that females paired with closely related males should seek copulations with distantly related extra-pair partners to avoid fitness loss from inbreeding depression; the outbreeding avoidance hypothesis predicts the opposite; the kin-selection hypothesis suggests that regardless of social mate relatedness, females should give related males extra-pair fertilization opportunities to gain inclusive fitness if the costs from inbreeding are minor. We test these hypotheses with a facultative cooperative breeder, the ground tit (Parus humilis). Social pairs of ground tits formed randomly with respect to genetic relatedness. In both bi-parental and cooperative groups, a female's engaging in extra-pair mating was independent of relatedness to her social mate; however, females preferred extra-pair sires to which they were more related than to their social mates. Moreover, females had higher relatedness with either their extra-group extra-pair sires in both bi-parental and cooperative groups, or within-group helper sires in cooperative groups, than expected by chance. When more than one potential extra-pair partner was available around a female's nest, she tended to select a relative. There was no indication of fitness reduction from extra-pair mating, which occurred at an intermediate level of inbreeding. These data support the kin-selection hypothesis, although there might be alternative non-genetic reasons associated with the extra-pair mating preference. Our finding offers a new explanation for why female birds pursue extra-pair mating. It also may broaden our understanding of the role of kin-selection in the evolution of cooperative society.
Data from: Extra-pair mating opportunities mediate parenting and mating effort trade-offs in a songbird
<p>In socially monogamous species with bi-parental care, males may face a trade-off between providing parental care and pursuing extra-pair matings. The "parenting-mating trade-off" hypothesis predicts that high-quality males – who have greater potential to gain extra-pair matings, e.g. larger males usually win the competition for extra-pair mating – should reduce parental care and spend more time looking for extra-pair matings. However, the trade-off between parenting and mating efforts may be complicated by variation in the availability of extra-pair mating opportunities. By using field data of hair-crested drongos (<i>Dicrurus hottentottus</i>), a species exhibiting bi-parental incubation behavior, collected in central China from 2010 to 2017, we tested whether the potential negative relationship between male quality and paternal care was dependent on the number of nearby fertile females. We found that male drongos mainly seek extra-pair matings during the incubation period and high-quality individuals (males with longer tarsi) are more likely to sire extra-pair offspring. In agreement with the "parenting-mating trade-off" hypothesis, high-quality males incubated less by recessing longer between incubation bouts. However, this was only the case when sufficient fertile females nearby for extra-pair mating opportunities. Females compensated for reduced male care, but this was independent of male quality. This suggests that the reduction in care by high-quality males might be a direct response to extra-pair mating opportunities rather than facilitated by differential allocation of females. Our results indicate that individual quality and available mating opportunities may shape the optimal trade-off between parental care and seeking additional matings for males.</p>
Data from: Offspring fitness varies with parental extra-pair status in song sparrows, Melospiza melodia
Numerous studies have tested for indirect selection on female extra-pair reproduction (EPR) by quantifying whether extra-pair young (EPY) are fitter than their within-pair young (WPY) maternal half-siblings. In contrast, the hypothesis that offspring of EPY and WPY (rather than the EPY and WPY themselves) differ in fitness has not been tested, even though inter-generational effects of parental extra-pair status on offspring fitness could alter the magnitude and direction of indirect selection on EPR. We tested whether offspring of EPY song sparrows, Melospiza melodia, were more likely to recruit or produce hatched or recruited offspring over their lifetimes than offspring of WPY. Hatchlings with one or two EPY parents were more likely to recruit and produce hatched offspring than hatchlings with two WPY parents. Furthermore, these relationships differed between maternal versus paternal extra-pair status. Hatchlings with EPY fathers were more likely to recruit and produce offspring than hatchlings with WPY fathers. In contrast, hatchlings with EPY mothers were as likely to recruit as hatchlings with WPY mothers and tended to be less likely to produce recruited offspring. Depending on the causal genetic and environmental mechanisms, such conflicting inter-generational relationships between parental extra-pair status and offspring fitness could substantially influence the evolutionary dynamics of EPR.
Data from: A likelihood-based approach for assessment of extra-pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism in natural populations
Genotypes are frequently used to assess alternative reproductive strategies such as extra-pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism in wild populations. However, such analyses are vulnerable to genotyping error or molecular artefacts that can bias results. For example, when using multilocus microsatellite data, a mismatch at a single locus, suggesting the offspring was not directly related to its putative parents, can occur quite commonly even when the offspring is truly related. Some recent studies have advocated an ad-hoc rule that offspring must differ at more than one locus in order to conclude that they are not directly related. While this reduces the frequency with which true offspring are identified as not directly related young, it also introduces bias in the opposite direction, wherein not directly related young are categorized as true offspring. More importantly, it ignores the additional information on allele frequencies which would reduce overall bias. In this study, we present a novel technique for assessing extra-pair paternity and conspecific brood parasitism using a likelihood-based approach in a new version of program cervus. We test the suitability of the technique by applying it to a simulated data set and then present an example to demonstrate its influence on the estimation of alternative reproductive strategies.
Individual quality and extra-pair paternity in the blue tit: sexy males bear the costs
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Adaptive explanations for the evolution of extra-pair paternity (EPP) suggest that females seek extra-pair copulations with high quality males. Still, the link between ornamentation, individual quality and paternity remains unclear. Moreover, honest signaling is essential when explaining EPP because it is needed for sexual selection to occur; yet, it is understudied in multiple ornaments. Because blue tits (<i>Cyanistes caeruleus</i>) show variable color expression in several plumage patches, we tested: (i) over two seasons, whether males in better condition, more ornamented and less infected by blood parasites gain EPP and have higher reproductive success, and (ii) over three seasons, whether mating patterns affect color change. Males with more saturated yellow feathers, brighter tails and in better condition had higher reproductive success in one of the seasons. Contrary to expectation, in another season, males that gained EPP were parasitized by blood parasites, suggesting increased vector exposure during extra-pair copulations. Our results for two seasons show that males siring more extra-pair young were older and grew brighter cheek or tail feathers for the following season. Despite the increased mating costs, in socially monogamous avian systems, high quality males incur in EPP without compromising traits that may be under sexual selection. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p> <p> </p>
The evolutionary genetics of paternal care: how good genes and extra-pair copulation affect the trade-off between paternal care and mating success
<p>We investigate the evolution of a gene for paternal care, with pleiotropic effects on male mating fitness and offspring viability, with and without extra pair copulations (EPCs). We develop a population genetic model to examine how pleiotropic effects of a male mating advantage and paternal care are affected by 'good genes' and EPCs. Using this approach, we show that the relative effects of each on fitness do not always predict the evolutionary change. We then find the line of combinations of mating success and paternal care that bisects the plane of possible values into regions of positive or negative gene frequency change. This line shifts when either good genes or EPCs are introduced, thereby expanding or contracting the region of positive gene frequency change and significantly affecting the evolution of paternal care. Predictably, a direct viability effect of 'good genes' that enhances offspring viability constrains or expands the parameter space over which paternal care can evolve, depending on whether the viability effect is associated with the paternal care allele or not. In either case, the effect of a 'good gene' that enhances offspring viability is substantial; when strong enough, it can even facilitate the evolution of <i>poor</i>paternal care, where males harm their young. When non-random mating is followed by random EPCs, the genetic regression between sire and offspring is reduced and, consequently, the relative strengths of selection are skewed away from paternal care and toward the male mating advantage. However, when random mating is followed by non-random EPCs, a situation called "trading up" by females, we show that selection is skewed in the opposite direction, away from male mating advantage and toward paternal care across the natural range of EPC frequencies.</p>
Female differential allocation in response to extra-pair offspring and social mate attractiveness
<p>Renewed debate over what benefits females might gain from producing extra-pair offspring emphasizes the possibility that apparent differences in quality between within-pair and extra-pair offspring are confounded by greater maternal investment in extra-pair offspring. Moreover, the attractiveness of a female's social mate can also influence contributions of both partners to a reproductive attempt. Here we explore the complexities involved in parental investment decisions in response to extra-pair offspring and mate attractiveness with a focus on the female point of view. Adult zebra finches paired and reproduced in a colony setting. A male's early-life diet quality and his extra-pair reproductive success were used as metrics of his mating attractiveness. Females paired with males that achieved extra-pair success laid heavier eggs than other females and spent less time attending their nests than their mates or other females. Extra-pair nestlings were fed more protein-rich hen's egg than within-pair nestlings. Females producing extra-pair offspring had more surviving sons than females producing only within-pair offspring. Collectively, results show that females differentially allocate resources in response to offspring extra-pair status and their social mate's attractiveness. Females may also obtain fitness benefits through the production of extra-pair offspring.</p>
Data from: Experimental extra-pair copulations provide proof of concept for fertility insurance in a socially monogamous bird
<p><span>Extra-pair paternity is common among socially monogamous birds, but whether females benefit from having extra-pair copulations remains unresolved. In this study I staged single extra-pair copulations in captive pairs of socially monogamous Japanese quail (<em>Coturnix japonica</em>), and used extra-pair males of different colour to identify extra-pair fertilisations. This </span><span>eliminated among-female variation in extra-pair copulations as a source of variation in extra-pair fertilisations, and tested whether a single extra-pair copulation would insure against infertility of the social male. Overall, the probability of extra-pair fertilisation was 0.46 for the first egg that was fertilised after extra-pair copulation, but this rapidly declined over consecutive eggs in the laying sequence. However, a single extra-pair copulation was effective in ensuring fertilisation of the majority of a typical clutch in the few cases were the social male was completely infertile. Hence, my results show that variation in extra-pair paternity can be independent from variation in extra-pair copulation behaviour, and that a single, strategically timed, extra-pair copulation can largely insure against social male infertility. Among-female variation in extra-pair fertilisations, and their declining probability over the laying sequence, as typical for many bird species, can thus, in principle, be parsimoniously explained by a uniform female fertility insurance strategy.</span></p>
Data from: Experimental evidence that brighter males sire more extra-pair young in tree swallows
Across taxa, extra-pair mating is widespread among socially monogamous species, but few studies have identified male ornamental traits associated with extra-pair mating success, and even fewer studies have experimentally manipulated male traits to determine whether they are related directly to paternity. As a consequence, there is little experimental evidence to support the widespread hypothesis that females choose more ornamented males as extra-pair mates. Here, we conducted an experimental study of the relationship between male plumage colour and fertilization success in tree swallows (Tachycineta bicolor), which have one of the highest levels of extra-pair mating in birds. In this study, we experimentally dulled the bright blue plumage on the back of males (with nontoxic ink markers) early in the breeding season prior to most mating. Compared with control males, dulled males sired fewer extra-pair young, and, as a result, fewer young overall. Among untreated males, brighter blue males also sired more extra-pair young, and in paired comparisons, extra-pair sires had brighter blue plumage than the within-pair male they cuckolded. These results, together with previous work on tree swallows, suggest that extra-pair mating behaviour is driven by benefits to both males and females.
Sperm numbers on the perivitelline layers of blue tit eggs are repeatable within a clutch, but independent of the occurrence of extra-pair paternity
In many socially monogamous bird species, females produce offspring sired by males other than their social partner. A large body of research has aimed to elucidate the evolutionary causes and consequences of such extra-pair paternity, but relatively little is known about the underlying behaviour. The number of sperm on the egg's perivitelline layers (PVL) is related to recent copulation activity and may thus give some insight into the female's mating behaviour. We used a simple technique that allowed us to remove embryonic cells from the blastoderm for DNA extraction whilst keeping the PVL intact for sperm counts. Using 243 eggs from 99 blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), we show that PVL sperm numbers were repeatable within clutches (r = 0.40 [95% CI: 0.25-0.53]). However, neither overall sperm numbers, nor changes in sperm numbers across the laying sequence differed between clutches that contained extra-pair sired eggs and those that did not. Our results therefore provide no evidence that females with and without extra-pair young differ in their copulation activity.
Data from: Extra-pair paternity in two populations of the socially monogamous Thorn-tailed Rayadito Aphrastura spinicauda (Passeriformes: Furnariidae)
Studies on extra-pair paternity (EPP) are key to understanding the ecological and evolutionary drivers of variation in avian mating strategies, but information is currently lacking for most tropical and sub-tropical taxa. We describe the occurrence of EPP in two populations of a South American socially monogamous bird, the Thorn-tailed Rayadito, based on data from 266 broods and 895 offspring that were sampled during six breeding seasons in north-central and southern Chile. In the northern population, 21% of the broods contained at least one extra-pair young and 14% of all offspring were sired by an extra-pair male, while in the southern population, we detected extra-pair offspring (EPO) in 14% of the broods, and 6% of all offspring were EPO. Variation in the frequency of EPP could stem from population differences in the duration of the breeding season or the density of breeding individuals. Other factors such as differences in breeding synchrony and variation in food availability need to be evaluated. More reports on EPP rates are necessary to determine the patterns of taxonomic and geographic variation in mating strategies in Neotropical birds, and to better understand the differences in ecological dynamics between northern and southern hemisphere populations.
Extra-pair paternity explains cooperation among neighbours in a bird
<p>In many social animals, females mate with multiple males, but the adaptive role of female extra-pair mating is not fully understood. This data set tests whether male pied flycatchers (<em>Ficedula hypoleuca</em>) engaging in extra-pair copulations with neighbouring females were more likely to assist their neighbours in predator mobbing. It shows that extra-pair sires joined mobs more often, approached predators more closely, and attacked predators more aggressively than males without extra-pair offspring in the neighbouring nest. Our results support theoretical predictions suggesting that extra-pair mating incentivizes males to assist in nest defences. </p>
Extra-pair paternity in the Saffron Finch is related to song peak frequency and body condition
<p>dataset of article<br> María Juliana Benitez Saldivar, Carolina Isabel Miño & Viviana Massoni (2022)<br> Extra-pair paternity in the Saffron Finch is related to song peak frequency and body condition.<br> Emu-Austral Ornithology 122:3-4, 226-237</p>
Data for: Experimentally advancing morning emergence time does not increase extra-pair siring success in blue tit males
<p>Extra-pair paternity occurs frequently in socially monogamous birds, but there is substantial variation in extra-pair siring success among males. Several studies have shown that siring success relates to the timing of morning activity, with the earliest active males being more successful, which suggests that early activity is important for acquiring extra-pair copulations. However, these studies are correlational, and it therefore remains unclear whether the relationship between timing and extra-pair siring success is causal. An alternative explanation is that successful extra-pair sires tend to be active earlier (e.g. because they are of high quality or in good condition), but that early activity in itself does not increase siring success. We experimentally advanced the emergence time of male blue tits by exposing them to light about half an hour before their natural emergence time. Although males that were exposed to the light treatment emerged from their roost substantially earlier than males that were exposed to a control treatment, light-treated males were not more likely to sire extra-pair offspring. Furthermore, whereas control males showed the expected relation between emergence time and siring success (although not statistically significant), there was no relation between emergence time and extra-pair siring success among light-treated males. Our results challenge the hypothesis that the timing of morning activity per se is an important factor underlying extra-pair siring success.</p>
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