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134 results for “Extra-pair”
Complex effects of helper relatedness on female extra-pair reproduction in a cooperative breeder
<p>In cooperatively-breeding species, the presence of male helpers in a group often reduces the breeding female's fidelity to her social partner, possibly because there is more than one potential sire in the group. Using a long-term study of cooperatively-breeding superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) and records of paternity in 1936 broods, we show that the effect of helpers on rates of extra-pair paternity varied according to the helpers' relatedness to the breeding female. The presence of unrelated male helpers in a group increased average rates of extra-pair paternity, from 57% for groups with no unrelated helpers, to 74% with one unrelated helper, to 86% with 2+ unrelated helpers. However, this increase was due in equal part to helpers within the group and males in other groups achieving increased paternity. In contrast, helpers who were sons of the breeding female did not gain paternity, nor did they affect the level of extra-group paternity (which occurred at rates of 60%, 58%, 61% in the presence of 0, 1, 2+ helper-sons respectively). There was no evidence of effects of helpers' relatedness to the female on nest productivity or nestling performance. Because the presence of helpers per se did not elevate extra-pair reproduction rates, our results undermine the 'constrained female hypothesis' explanation for an increase in extra-pair paternity with helper number in cooperative breeders. However, they indicate that dominant males are disadvantaged by breeding in 'cooperative' groups. The reasons why the presence of unrelated helpers, but not of helper-sons, results in higher rates of extra-group reproduction are not clear.</p>
Female and male plumage colour is linked to parental quality, pairing and extra-pair mating in a tropical passerine
<p>Sexual selection has been proposed to drive the evolution of elaborate phenotypic traits in males, which often confer success in competition or mating. However, in many species both males and females display such traits, although studies investigating selection acting in both sexes are scarce. In this study, we investigated whether plumage ornamentation is sexually selected in female and male lovely fairy-wrens <em>Malurus amabilis</em>, a cooperatively breeding songbird. We found that female and male plumage colour was correlated with parental quality but not with individual quality and survival. We also found evidence of positive assortative mating based on plumage colour. Microsatellite analyses of paternity indicated that the lovely fairy-wren has high levels of extra-pair paternity, with 53% of offspring (in 58% of broods, of 57% of females) resulting from extra-pair mating. Female and male plumage colour did not predict reproductive success or the proportion of extra-pair offspring in their own nest, but less colourful males obtained higher extra-pair paternity when paired with more colourful females, and gained overall higher total paternity (own nest and other nests). We argue that plumage colour may be under sex-specific selection, highlighting the importance of looking at both sexes in studies of sexual selection and ornament evolution. The current findings together with previous study, suggest that plumage colour in female and male lovely fairy-wrens appears to be an honest signal relevant in both intra and inter-sexual competition contexts.</p>
Body size is associated with yearling breeding and extra-pair mating in the Island Scrub-Jay
<p>Large body size is an important determinant of individual fitness in many animal species, especially in island systems where habitat saturation may result in strong intraspecific competition for mates and breeding territories. Here we show that large body size is associated with benefits to yearling breeding and extra-pair mating in the Island Scrub-Jay (<i>Aphelocoma insularis</i>), endemic to Santa Cruz Island, California. This species is approximately 20% larger than its mainland congener, consistent with the island syndrome, indicating that body size may be a trait under selection. From 2009 to 2013, we quantified the reproductive success of a marked population of Island Scrub-Jays, tracked which yearlings acquired a breeding territory and bred, and measured the occurrence of extra-pair paternity. Two potential contributors to fitness were positively related to body size. Larger yearling males were more likely to breed, possibly due to greater behavioral dominance during aggressive encounters. Larger males were also less likely to lose paternity to extra-pair males and, anecdotally, extra-pair males were larger than the social male cuckolded. This study provides evidence that larger males may have a fitness advantage over smaller males by breeding earlier and avoiding paternity loss, but estimates of lifetime reproductive success are ultimately needed for Island Scrub-Jays and other long-lived species.</p>
Extra-pair copulations can insure female blue tits against male infertility
Mating outside the pair-bond occurs frequently in socially monogamous birds, but the benefits that females gain from this behaviour remain debated. One hypothesis is that females engage in extra-pair copulations (EPCs) to ensure that their clutch is fertilised in case their own mate is infertile, but evidence for this idea is scarce. We report on a case of an infertile male blue tit that bred in three successive years with three different females. In the first year, all eggs were sired by an extra-pair male whereas in the second year all eggs were unfertilised and contained no sperm. In the third year, the female produced two clutches that were fertilised by an extra-pair male, but - unlike 'normal' clutches - sperm numbers on the perivitelline membrane decreased rapidly over the laying sequence. Our findings show that blue tit females mated to an infertile male can escape reproductive failure by engaging in EPCs and support previous suggestions that EPCs in blue tits cease after the onset of egg laying.
Divorce and extra-pair paternity in the Lundy house sparrows
<p>The question of why socially monogamous females engage in extra-pair behaviour is long-standing in evolutionary biology. Due to a lack of empirical support among passerine birds, recent work has moved away from the indirect-benefits hypothesis to explain extra-pair mating behaviour by females, instead favouring the hypothesis that this is the result of a pleiotropic effect. That is, <span>a trait under strong positive selection in either or both sexes are genetically linked with another, potentially unrelated, trait. For example, genes beneficial to female fecundity (that promote within-pair solicitation of mating from a male partner) might also lead to extra-pair behaviour (by also promoting solicited copulations from extra-pair males). </span>Here, we test two predictions from this hypothesis: We test the prediction that female divorce, measured as the number of social mates within a given year, is linked with (1) the number of extra-pair males engaged by the female and (2) the proportion of the female's offspring that are extra-pair. Our results show that females who divorce their social partner are more likely to produce extra-pair offspring than those who maintain social monogamy, supporting the pleiotropy hypothesis. However, those females did not also have a higher proportion of extra-pair offspring. The number of broods initiated was also positively correlated with the number of extra-pair males that sired a female's offspring, probably through increased opportunity for extra-pair males to sire offspring over a longer breeding season. Our results support the intrasexual pleiotropy hypothesis as a driver of female extra-pair behaviour.</p>
The risk of brood parasitism does not affect levels of extra-pair paternity in a cuckoo host
<p>In socially monogamous bird species, extra-pair paternity is common, but its level varies considerably within and among species. For hosts of brood parasites, the risk of brood parasitism may influence the costs of engaging in extra-pair copulations (e.g., leaving the nest undefended) and the benefits of having extra-pair young (e.g., spreading the risk of nest predation). However, whether brood parasitism risk affects extra-pair behavior in host species has rarely been tested. We investigated whether variation in the risk of brood parasitism affected levels of extra-pair paternity in Daurian redstarts, a socially monogamous passerine. As a common host of the common cuckoo, the redstart is unique in that its first clutch of the year takes place before the arrival of cuckoos. As a consequence, redstarts experience large seasonal variation in cuckoo parasitism risk, with no parasitism in the first egg-laying period and a high risk in the second period. We genotyped 995 nestlings (and unhatched eggs) from 181 broods and found moderate levels of extra-pair paternity, with 34.8% of broods containing at least one extra-pair young and 11.7% of all offspring being sired by an extra-pair male. However, levels of extra-pair paternity did not differ between the first and the second egg-laying period. Also, experimentally simulating parasitism risk during the first egg-laying period by broadcasting cuckoo vocalizations and presenting taxidermic models of cuckoos did not affect levels of extra-pair paternity in redstarts. Our results, therefore, suggest that the risk of brood parasitism does not affect host extra-pair paternity.</p>
Temperature variability is associated with the occurrence of extra-pair paternity in blue tits
<p>In birds, extra-pair paternity (EPP) constitutes an alternative mating strategy, with potentially important fitness consequences for both males and females and their offspring. Several factors have been identified that can influence the occurrence of EPP, but the role of environmental variability has so far received relatively little attention. Using long-term data set from a wild population of blue tit (<em>Cyanistes</em> <em>cearuleus</em>) we assess the importance of ambient temperature in modulating the levels of extra-pair paternity. Here, we show that variability of local thermal conditions affects the occurrence of EPP. Specifically, we found that the probability of EPP increased with increasing variability in ambient temperature experienced by females prior to egg laying. This pattern is consistent with the idea of plastic female responses to unpredictable environmental conditions. Our results suggest that extra-pair mating may represent an adaptive behavioural strategy to compensate for possible negative effects of unpredictable environmental conditions. </p>
Extra-pair paternity enhances the reproductive fitness of urban Chinese blackbird
<p>Urbanization is a human-induced process of rapid habitat change that can affect the reproductive success of animals. The occurrence of extra-partial paternity (EPP) may be sensitive to changes in urban ecological conditions. In this study, the Chinese blackbird (<em>Turdus</em> <em>mandarinus</em>), a common breeding bird in southern Chinese cities, was selected as the focus species to explore the EPP patterns of monogamous birds in developing cities and their relationship. Over four breeding seasons, 316 Chinese blackbird nestlings and 20 adults in both urban and rural areas were monitored and genotyped for 11 microsatellite loci to determine progeny affinity. We confirmed that both the brood size and hatching rate of EPP nests were significantly larger than those of within-pair paternity (WPP) nests. The body mass, beak length, head length, and body length of 12-day age extra-pair offspring (EPO) were significantly greater than those of within-pair offspring (WPO) suggesting important benefits of EPP. However, according to the analyses of nest ecological variables, we concluded that EPP occurs most often in areas with low urbanization levels indicating some constraints for this reproductive strategy in cities. Our findings provide interesting new insights into how this growing human-induced landscape change affects mating behavior in birds, an important aspect of avian ecology and evolution.</p>
Female extra-pair behavior is not associated with reduced paternal care in Thorn-tailed Rayadito
<p>Extra-pair behavior is present in 76% of socially monogamous bird species with biparental care. This behavior may produce costs to females related to a reduction in paternal care. We estimated the percentage of extra-pair offspring and quantified paternal care in 44 nests of Thorn-tailed Rayadito (Aphrastura spinicauda) to assess whether males reduce their parental care when females obtain extra-pair fertilizations. We used data from a sub-Antarctic population of Rayadito located on Navarino Island (55°4′S, 67°40′W), southern Chile. We found no statistical support for a relationship between variation in paternal care and the percentage of extra-pair offspring. We discuss how the inability of breeding males to assess their genetic paternity and potential restrictions on behavioral flexibility may explain this result. Additionally, if paternal care is subjected to sexual selection, this could limit a facultative response to female extra-pair behavior by males. Finally, it is possible that a reduction in paternal care might not have evolved in this particular locality given the low frequency of extra-pair paternity in our study population.</p>
Data from: Extra-pair paternity correlates with genetic diversity, but not breeding density, in a Neotropical passerine, the Black Catbird
<p>The frequency of extra-pair paternity (EPP) varies widely across socially monogamous birds, but the proximate mechanisms driving this variation remain unclear. In this study, we tested two major factors hypothesized to influence extra-pair mating—breeding density and genetic diversity—by comparing genetic mating patterns in two populations of black catbirds <em>Melanoptila glabrirostris</em>. This Neotropical songbird is endemic to the Yucatán Peninsula, including eastern Mexico, and its offshore islands. We sampled one mainland (Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve) and one island (Isla Cozumel) population and used single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to quantify heterozygosity and genetic parentage over two breeding seasons. Moderate levels of EPP occurred in both populations (9.5 – 35% of offspring and 17 – 45% of nests). Contrary to predictions, breeding density did not affect EPP: although breeding densities were much higher on the mainland than on the island, EPP rates did not differ between populations, and local breeding density was not correlated with EPP at individual nests. In contrast, partial support emerged for the hypothesis that genetic diversity influences EPP: extra-pair offspring were more heterozygous than within-pair offspring. However, the two populations did not differ in genetic diversity, and neither the heterozygosity of social fathers nor within-pair relatedness predicted EPP. These results are consistent with recent comparative studies suggesting that breeding density is not a critical driver of EPP rates, and that not all tropical songbirds exhibit low rates of EPP.</p>
Figure 1 in Report of an extra-pair copulation in the Rufous Hornero, Furnarius rufus (Aves: Furnariidae)
Figure 1. Chronology of records of within-pair and extra-pair copulations involving two pairs of Rufous Horneros that inhabited adjacent territories. (A) WPC between members of the Territorial Pair; (B) Territorial Pair foraging outside its territory; (C) The male neighbor chases the territorial male away from its territory; (D) The male neighbor copulates with the territorial female (i.e., EPC). The yellow line indicates the border separating the Territorial Pair (red) and the Neighbor Pair (blue). Image source: Google Earth.
Data for: Patterns of extra-territorial nestbox visits in a songbird suggest a role in extra-pair mating
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Many animals make visits outside of their territory during the breeding period, but these are typically infrequent and difficult to observe. As a consequence, comprehensive data on extra-territorial movements at the population-level are scarce and the function of this behavior remains poorly understood. Using an automated nestbox visit tracking system in a wild blue tit population over six breeding seasons, we recorded all extra-territorial nestbox visits (n=22137) related to 1195 individual breeding attempts (761 unique individuals). Sixty-two percent of breeders made at least one extra-territorial visit between the onset of nest building and the day of fledging of their offspring, and individuals visited another nestbox on average on 11% of the days during this period. Visit behavior differed clearly between the sexes, with males making over three times as many extra-territorial forays as females. There was a strong overall seasonal decline in visit behavior, but this was sex dependent, with females showing a strong reduction in the number of extra-territorial visits before the onset of egg laying and males showing a strong and sudden reduction on the day their offspring hatched. The likelihood of visiting a particular nestbox declined sharply with the distance to that box, and blue tits almost exclusively visited direct neighbors. Individuals were more likely to have extra-pair offspring with an individual whose box they visited, but they were not more likely to disperse to a box they had visited. Thus, our results are inconsistent with the hypothesis that extra-territorial nestbox visits serve to inform dispersal decisions, but suggest that such visits are linked to extra-pair mating opportunities.</span></p>
Multiple and extra-pair mating in a pair-living hermaphrodite, the intertidal limpet Siphonaria gigas
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Data from: Extra-pair paternity correlates with genetic diversity, but not breeding density, in a Neotropical passerine, the Black Catbird
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Data from: ultimate drivers of forced extra-pair copulations in birds lacking penises: jackdaws as a case-study
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Differences in perceived predation risk associated with variation in relative size of extra-pair and within-pair offspring
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Divorce and extra-pair paternity in the Lundy house sparrows
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Data from: Genetic analysis provides insight into the mating system of <em>Meleagris gallopavo</em> (wild turkey) and reveals frequent extra-pair paternity
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Body size is associated with yearling breeding and extra-pair mating in the Island Scrub-Jay
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Data from: Maternal investment is positively associated with the presence of extra-pair offspring in a socially monogamous songbird
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