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619 results for “paternity”
Multiple paternity is related to adult sex ratio and sex determination system in reptiles
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Condition dependent seminal fluid gene expression and intergenerational paternal effects on ejaculate quality
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Data from: Elements of male song performance and complexity are associated with reduced risk of paternity loss in a South American passerine
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Data from: Mating dynamics and multiple paternity in a long-lived vertebrate
Multiple paternity is relatively common across diverse taxa; however, the drivers and implications related to paternal and maternal fitness are not well understood. Several hypotheses have been offered to explain the occurrence and frequency of multiple paternity. One set of hypotheses seeks to explain multiple paternity through direct and indirect benefits including increased genetic diversity or enhanced offspring fitness, whereas another set of hypotheses explains multiple paternity as a byproduct of sexual conflict and population-specific parameters such as density. Here we investigate mating system dynamics in a historically studied population of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) in coastal South Carolina. We examine parentage in 151 nests across 6 years and find that 43% of nests were sired by multiple males and that male reproductive success is strongly influenced by male size. Whereas clutch size and hatchling size did not differ between singly sired and multiple sired nests, fertility rates were observed to be lower in multiply sired clutches. Our findings suggest that multiple paternity may exert cost in regard to female fitness, and raise the possibility that sexual conflict might influence the frequency of multiple paternity in wild alligator populations.
Data from: Going the distance: Influence of distance between boat noise and nest site on the behavior of paternal smallmouth bass
<p>The effects of anthropogenic noise have garnered significant attention in marine ecosystems, but comparatively less is known about its impacts on freshwater ecosystems. For fish that provide parental care, the effects of acoustic disturbance could have fitness-level consequences if nest tending behavior is altered. This study explored the effects of motorboat noise on the parental behavior of nesting male smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu; Lacépède, 1802), an important freshwater game fish in North America that provides sole paternal care to offspring. Specifically, we evaluated how boat noise proximity to a bass nest (ranging from 4.5 to 90 m) influenced paternal care behaviors. A total of 73 fish were exposed to a 3-min motorboat playback designed to simulate a boat sound that typically occurs in areas near littoral nesting sites. The fish were video recorded, and their behaviors were analyzed before, during, and after exposure to the playback. Residency time was the only behavioral metric to be adversely affected by noise playbacks but only when in close proximity to the speaker. Our results suggest that boat noise may have an impact on bass reproductive fitness in specific contexts where combustion motors are used near shore during the nesting period. The largely null findings may indicate a resilience to boat noise and/or habituation to the noise. In addition, boats displace water and create waves that represent another form of disturbance that could be experienced by fish but was not simulated here. Future research should integrate behavioral and physiological responses to boat noise and other aspects of boat disturbance to better understand the fitness impacts of boating activity on freshwater fish.</p>
Data from: The costs and benefits of paternal care in fish: a meta-analysis
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Male-only parental care, while rare in most animals, is a widespread strategy within teleost fish. The costs and benefits to males of acting as sole carer are highly variable between fish species making it challenging to determine the selective pressures driving the evolution of male-only care to such a high prevalence. We conducted a phylogenetic meta-analysis to examine the costs and benefits of paternal care across fish species. We found no evidence that providing care negatively affects male condition. In contrast to other taxa, we also found limited evidence that male care has evolved as a strategy to improve offspring survival. Instead, we found that males already caring for a brood are preferred by females and that this preference is strongest in those species in which males work harder to care for larger broods. Thus, in fish, investment in offspring care does not constrain a male's mating success but rather augments it, suggesting that the relatively high prevalence of male-only care in fish may be in part explained by sexual selection through female preference for caring males. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Data from: Extra food provisioning reduces extra-pair paternity in the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni)
<p><span>Female promiscuity can function to acquire both direct and indirect benefits from their social mate and extra-pair males. In many raptor species, intense mate-feeding significantly contributes to female energy requirements before and during egg laying. Moreover, females may use mate-feeding effort to assess male quality. In this study of the lesser kestrel (<i>Falco naumanni</i>), we aimed at experimentally manipulating the female's perception of mate quality by providing females with extra food during egg laying, and evaluated the occurrence of extra-pair paternity in food-supplemented and control broods by parentage analyses. No extra-pair offspring (EPO) was found among 19 food-supplemented broods, whereas EPO occurred in five out of 17 control broods. No significant differences in morphological traits, body condition and reproductive success were found between faithful and unfaithful females. However, clutches containing EPO were laid later in the breeding season. Moreover, un-cuckolded males had longer tarsi than cuckolded ones, indicating larger body size. Hence, extra food provisioning and early breeding reduced the occurrence of EPO in lesser kestrels. In addition, we confirmed the occurrence of intraspecific brood parasitism, as five nestlings were not the offspring of the brooding female. The results of our food-provisioning experiment support the idea that mate-feeding ability is a reliable indicator of male quality, and are in accordance with the hypothesis that male mate-feeding behaviour is a sexually selected trait.</span></p>
Sequenced-based paternity analysis to improve breeding and identify self-incompatibility loci in intermediate wheatgrass (Thinopyrum intermedium)
<p>In outcrossing species such as intermediate wheatgrass (IWG, Thinopyrum intermedium), polycrossing is often used to generate novel recombinants through each cycle of selection, but it cannot track pollen-parent pedigrees and it is unknown how self-incompatibility (SI) genes may limit the number of unique crosses obtained. This study investigated the potential of using next-generation sequencing to assign paternity and identify putative SI loci in IWG. Using a reference population of 380 individuals made from controlled crosses of 64 parents, paternity was assigned with 92% agreement using Cervus software. Using this approach, 80% of 4158 progeny (n = 3342) from a polycross of 89 parents were assigned paternity. Of the 89 pollen parents, 82 (92%) were represented with 1633 unique full-sib families representing 42% of all potential crosses. The number of progeny per successful pollen parent ranged from 1 to 123, with number of inflorescences per pollen parent significantly correlated to the number of progeny (r = 0.54, p < 0.001). Shannon's diversity index, assessing the total number and representation of families, was 7.33 compared to a theoretical maximum of 8.98. To test our hypothesis on the impact of SI genes, a genome-wide association study of the number of progeny observed from the 89 parents identified genetic effects related to non-random mating, including marker loci located near putative SI genes. Paternity testing of polycross progeny can impact future breeding gains by being incorporated in breeding programs to optimize polycross methodology, maintain genetic diversity, and reveal genetic architecture of mating patterns.</p>
Data from: Paternal effects via seminal fluid and the evolution of polyandry
<p>Genetic benefits from mating with multiple males are thought to favor the evolution of polyandry. However, recent evidence suggests that nongenetic paternal effects via seminal fluid might contribute to the observed effects of polyandry on offspring performance. Here we test this hypothesis using the field cricket <i>Teleogryllus oceanicus</i>. Polyandrous females mated to three different males produced embryos with higher pre-hatching viability than did monandrous females mated with the same male three times. Pseudo-polyandrous females that obtained sperm and seminal fluid from a single male and seminal fluid from two additional males, had embryos with viabilities intermediate between monandrous and polyandrous females. Our results suggest either that ejaculate mediated paternal effects on embryo viability have both genetic and nongenetic components, or that seminal fluids transferred by castrated males provide only a subset of proteins contained within the normal ejaculate, which effects the efficacy of seminal fluid in promoting embryo viability.</p>
Data from: High frequency of multiple paternity in Eastern red bats, Lasiurus borealis, based on microsatellite analysis
Most species of bats give birth to only one pup each year, although Eastern red bats (Lasiurus borealis) can produce up to five pups per litter. Offspring in a single litter have been documented to be at different stages of development, suggesting that multiple paternity occurs. We tested the null hypothesis of genetic monogamy in red bats using six autosomal microsatellites and one X-linked microsatellite from 31 parent/offspring groups for a total of 128 bats. We sampled both pregnant females and mothers with pups that were obtained from bats submitted to departments of health in Oklahoma and Texas for rabies testing. Multiple paternity was assessed using a maximum-likelihood approach, hypothesis testing, and X-linked locus exclusion. The mean polymorphic information content of our markers was high (0.8819) and combined non-exclusion probability was low (0.00027). Results from the maximum-likelihood approach showed that 22 out of 31 (71%) parent/offspring groups consisted of half siblings, hypothesis testing rejected full sibship in 61% of parent/offspring groups, and X-linked locus exclusion suggested multiple paternity in at least 12 parent/offspring groups, rejecting our hypothesis of genetic monogamy. This frequency of multiple paternity is the highest reported thus far for any bat species. High levels of multiple paternity have the potential to impact interpretations of genetic estimates of effective population size in this species. Further, multiple paternity might be an adaptive strategy to allow for increased genetic variation and large litter size, which would be beneficial to a species threatened by population declines from wind turbines.
Baculum shape and paternity success in house mice: evidence for genital coevolution
<p>Sexual selection is believed to be responsible for the rapid divergence of male genitalia, which is a widely observed phenomenon across different taxa. Among mammals, the stimulatory role of male genitalia and female 'sensory perception' has been suggested to explain these evolutionary patterns. Recent research on house mice has shown that baculum (penis bone) shape can respond to experimentally imposed sexual selection. Here, we explore the adaptive value of baculum shape by performing two experiments that examine the effects of male and female genitalia on male reproductive success. Thus, we selected house mice (<i>Mus musculus domesticus</i>) from families characterised by extremes in baculum shape (relative width) and examined paternity success in both non-competitive (monogamous) and competitive (polyandrous) contexts. Our analyses revealed that the relative baculum shape of competing males influenced competitive paternity success, but that this effect was dependent on the breeding value for baculum shape of the family from which females were derived. Our data provide novel insight into the potential role of sexual selected on the coevolution of the house mouse baculum and lend support to the stimulatory hypothesis for mammalian genital evolution.</p>
Are you my baby? Testing whether paternity affects behavior of cobreeder male acorn woodpeckers
<p>Natural selection is expected to favor males that invest more in offspring they sire. We investigated the relationship between paternity and male behavior in the acorn woodpecker (<i>Melanerpes formicivorus</i>), cooperative breeders that live in family groups including offspring that remain on their natal territory, sometimes for years, and cobreeders of both sexes. Regardless of group composition, only one communal nest is attended at a time. Whereas cobreeding females share maternity equally, one male often sires the majority of young in the group's communal nest. Copulations are rarely observed, and thus it has not been possible to link paternity to sexual behavior. There were no differences among cobreeder males that did or did not sire young in their propensity to roost in the nest cavity at night. However, cobreeder males that attended females continuously prior to egg-laying were more likely to successfully sire young than males that did not, and the relative share of feeding visits and time spent at the subsequent nest were positively related to a male's realized paternity. These differences in male behavior were partly due to differences among males and partly to plasticity in male behavior covarying with paternity share. Feedings by males successfully siring young also involved a larger proportion of nutritionally valuable insect prey. Males are aware of their paternity success, apparently because of their relative access to females prior to egg-laying, and provide more paternal behavior at nests in which they are more likely to have sired young.</p>
Transitions in paternal social status predict patterns of offspring growth and metabolic transcription
Parental effects occur when changes in the parental phenotype or environment cause changes to offspring phenotype. While some parental effects are triggered in response to an environmental cue in a time-locked fashion, other parental effects persist even after the cue has been removed, suggesting multiple timescales of action. For parental effects to serve as reliable signals of current environmental conditions, they should be reversible, such that when the cue changes, offspring phenotypes change in accordance. Social hierarchy is a prevalent feature of the environment, and current parental social status could signal the environment in which offspring will be born. Here, we sought to address parental effects of social status and their timescale of action in mice. We show that competition in seminatural environments affects offspring growth rate. Although dominant males are not heavier than nondominant or control males, they produce faster growing offspring, particularly sons. The timing, effect-size, and sex-specificity of this association are modulated by maternal social experience. We show that a change in paternal social status is sufficient to modulate offspring weight: from one breeding cycle to the next, status-ascending males produce heavier sons than before, and status-descending males produce lighter sons than before. Current paternal status is also highly predictive of liver transcription in sons, including molecular pathways controlling oxidative phosphorylation and iron metabolism. These results are consistent with a parental effect of social experience, although alternative explanations are considered. In summary, changes in paternal social status are associated with changes in offspring growth and metabolism.
Data from: Polyandry and paternity affect disease resistance in eusocial wasps
<p>One of several hypotheses proposed to explain polyandry in eusocial insects is the parasite–pathogen hypothesis (PPH), in which a colony of workers with multiple patrilines due to queen polyandry is less likely to fall victim to a parasite or pathogen threat because of genetic variability of the colony's workforce. We challenged colonies with different strains of an entomopathogenic fungus to determine pathogen virulence and worker survival. We found that workers from different patrilines differed in their survival following the pathogen challenge, supporting the hypothesis that a major benefit of multiple mating by queen wasps is in disease resistance for the benefit of the colony.</p> <p>We infected isolated workers with the entomopathogenic fungus <i>Beauveria bassiana</i> and quantified their survival in the laboratory. We used five fungal strains (A–E) of <i>B. bassiana</i> for experiment 1, and then selected the two most lethal strains (A and C) for experiment 2. We used nine microsatellite markers to determine patriline membership, we analyzed microsatellite genotypes using the software Colony v2.0.6.5 (Wang 2004).</p>
An experimental test of the role of male mating history on paternal effects in the livebearer fish, Gambusia holbrooki
<p>We experimentally tested if differences in the mating history of old males affects their offsprings' performance in the mosquitofish, <em>Gambusia holbrooki</em>. Upon maturation, males were housed for the duration of a natural field breeding season (23 weeks) either with mating access to females ('lifetime mating') or with visual but no physical access to females ('no mating'). We then paired these males with a female to test whether male mating history had a significant effect on their mate's breeding success or offspring performance. The daughters, but not the sons, of 'no mating' treatment males matured significantly sooner, and at a significantly smaller size, than those of 'lifetime mating' treatment males. There was, however, no effect of male mating history on their daughters' initial fecundity, or on proxy measures of their sons' reproductive success. These results, when combined with earlier studies showing effects of male mating history on sperm quality, growth and immunity, suggest that variation in paternal effects currently attributed to male age could partly arise simply because older males have usually mated more often than younger males.</p>
Data from: Incest avoidance, extrapair paternity, and territory quality drive divorce in a year-round territorial bird.
Divorce can be an important behavioral strategy to improve fitness. This is particularly relevant for species that are territorial year-round with continuous partnerships, where individuals face constraints on partner choice due to limited vacancies and dispersal opportunities. We tested several hypotheses for divorce in such a species, the cooperatively breeding bird Malurus coronatus. Based on 9 years of detailed information on dispersal and survival of 317 breeding pairs, we tested whether divorce is driven by inbreeding avoidance, by a better partner or territory, or by social variables (number of subordinates and fidelity of partners). We found that divorce is important to escape incest: incestuous pairs were substantially more likely to divorce (64%) than non-incestuous pairs (14%). However, incestuous pair bonds lasted up to a year, highlighting constraints on breeder dispersal. Non-incestuous pairs also divorced, but here the only predictor for divorce was the presence of extrapair offspring in a previous brood. Although reproductive failure did not trigger divorce, and reproductive success did not improve in the year following divorce, females that dispersed after divorce obtained higher quality territories, unlike females that dispersed after their partner died. Thus, divorce may be a strategy to improve long-term benefits associated with better territories. Some divorces appeared to be forced evictions by older females, although direct evidence for this is limited. Taken together, our findings demonstrate the complexity of factors that affect the occurrence of divorce when partner choice is constrained.
Data from: Determinants of age at first reproduction and lifetime breeding success revealed by full paternity assignment in a male ungulate
Age at first reproduction is an important determinant of individual variation in reproductive success in ungulates, but few studies have examined its relationship with later fitness-related traits in males. We used a long-term individual based study of a harvested moose population to quantify the individual reproductive performance and survival of males, as well as to examine the determinants of age at first reproduction and consequences of age at first reproduction on lifetime breeding success. The probability that a male successfully reproduced at the age of two was negatively related to the mean age of adult males in the population, but the relationship weakened with increasing population size. Large antlers and large body mass relative to other males in the population increased the number of calves sired at their first successful mating season. In addition, those that successfully reproduced as two year-olds were more likely to sire calves the next year, making them more productive at a given age compared to those that first reproduced at the age of three or older. We emphasize the importance for males to start reproducing as soon as possible in a harvested population to gain lifetime fitness benefits, as surviving the hunt is a major determinant of reproductive success in this population. We found no costs of early reproduction in males, hence leading to high individual heterogeneity in male reproductive performance. The apparent lack of reproductive costs could partly be explained by the age distribution in the population, individual variation in early-life body mass and antler size, and differences in probabilities of being killed during hunt between successful and unsuccessful males.
Recent immigrants alter the quantitative genetic architecture of paternity in song sparrows
Quantifying additive genetic variances and cross-sex covariances in reproductive traits, and identifying processes that shape and maintain such (co)variances, is central to understanding the evolutionary dynamics of reproductive systems. Gene flow resulting from among-population dispersal could substantially alter additive genetic variances and covariances in key traits in recipient populations, thereby altering forms of sexual conflict, indirect selection and evolutionary responses. However, the degree to which genes imported by immigrants do in fact affect quantitative genetic architectures of key reproductive traits and outcomes is rarely explicitly quantified. We applied structured quantitative genetic analyses to multi-year pedigree, pairing and paternity data from free-living song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) to quantify the differences in mean breeding values for major sex-specific reproductive traits, specifically female extra-pair reproduction and male paternity loss, between recent immigrants and the previously existing population. We thereby quantify effects of natural immigration on the means, variances and cross-sex covariance in total additive genetic values for extra-pair paternity arising within the complex socially monogamous but genetically polygynandrous reproductive system. Recent immigrants had lower mean breeding values for male paternity loss, and somewhat lower values for female extra-pair reproduction, than the local recipient population, and would therefore increase the emerging degree of reproductive fidelity of social pairings. Furthermore, immigration increased the variances in total additive genetic values for these traits, but decreased the magnitudes of the negative cross-sex genetic covariation and correlation below those evident in the existing population. Immigration thereby increased the total additive genetic variance but could decrease the magnitude of indirect selection acting on sex-specific contributions to paternity outcomes. These results demonstrate that dispersal and resulting immigration and gene flow can substantially affect quantitative genetic architectures of complex local reproductive systems, implying that comprehensive theoretical and empirical efforts to understand mating system dynamics will need to incorporate spatial population processes.
Data from: Strong and stable geographic differentiation of swamp buffalo maternal and paternal lineages indicates domestication in the China/Indochina border region
The swamp type of the Asian water buffalo is assumed to have been domesticated by about 4000 years BP, following the introduction of rice cultivation. Previous localizations of the domestication site were based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation within China, accounting only for the maternal lineage. We carried out a comprehensive sampling of China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Nepal and Bangladesh and sequenced the mtDNA Cytochrome b gene and control region and the Y-chromosomal ZFY, SRY and DBY sequences. Swamp buffalo has a higher diversity of both maternal and paternal lineages than river buffalo, with also a remarkable contrast between a weak phylogeographic structure of river buffalo and a strong geographic differentiation of swamp buffalo. The highest diversity of the swamp buffalo maternal lineages was found in South China and North Indochina on both banks of the Mekong River, while the highest diversity in paternal lineages was in the China-Indochina border region. We propose that domestication in this region was later followed by introgressive capture of wild cows west of the Mekong. Migration to the north followed the Yangtze valley as well as a more eastern route, but also involved translocations of both cows and bulls over large distances with a minor influence of river buffaloes in recent decades. Bayesian analyses of various migration models also supported domestication in the China-Indochina border region. Coalescence analysis yielded consistent estimates for the expansion of the major swamp buffalo haplogroups with a credibility interval of 900 to 3,900 years BP. The spatial differentiation of mtDNA and Y-chromosomal haplotype distributions indicates a lack of gene flow between established populations that is unprecedented in livestock.
Data from: PolyPatEx: an R package for paternity exclusion in autopolyploids
Microsatellite markers have demonstrated their value for performing paternity exclusion and hence exploring mating patterns in plants and animals. Methodology is well established for diploid species and several software packages exist for elucidating paternity in diploids, however these issues are not so readily addressed in polyploids due to the increased complexity of the exclusion problem and a lack of available software. We introduce PolyPatEx, an R package for paternity exclusion analysis using microsatellite data in autopolyploid, monoecious or dioecious/bisexual species with a ploidy of 4n, 6n or 8n. Given marker data for a set of offspring, their mothers, and a set of candidate fathers, PolyPatEx uses allele matching to exclude candidates whose marker alleles are incompatible with the alleles in each offspring-mother pair. PolyPatEx can analyse marker data sets in which allele copy numbers are known (genotype data) or unknown (allelic phenotype data) – for data sets in which allele copy numbers are unknown, comparisons are made taking into account all possible genotypes that could arise from the compared allele sets. PolyPatEx is a software tool that provides population geneticists with the ability to investigate the mating patterns of autopolyploids using paternity exclusion analysis on data from codominant markers having multiple alleles per locus.
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