Age-related variation in mean sperm length, in the rove beetle Aleochara bilineata

Green, Kieran

doi:10.1016/s0022-1910(03)00164-1

Cited by 31 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 24 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As in some other studies of birds (Laskemoen et al., ; Møller et al., ; Rowe, Swaddle, Pruett‐Jones, & Webster, ), we found no effect of male age on sperm size. This is in contrast to other taxa such as insects and fish where sperm size increased with male age (Gasparini et al., ; Green, ). Reasons for the different sperm size dynamics over male ontogeny in different taxa are not clear at present.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 56%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Moderate heritability and low evolvability of sperm morphology in a species with high risk of sperm competition, the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis

Edme

Zobač

Korsten

et al. 2018

J of Evolutionary Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Spermatozoa represent the morphologically most diverse type of animal cells and show remarkable variation in size across and also within species. To understand the evolution of this diversity, it is important to reveal to what degree this variation is genetic or environmental in origin and whether this depends on species’ life histories. Here we applied quantitative genetic methods to a pedigreed multigenerational data set of the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis, a passerine bird with high levels of extra‐pair paternity, to partition genetic and environmental sources of phenotypic variation in sperm dimensions for the first time in a natural population. Narrow‐sense heritability (h2) of total sperm length amounted to 0.44 ± 0.14 SE, whereas the corresponding figure for evolvability (estimated as coefficient of additive genetic variation, CVa) was 0.02 ± 0.003 SE. We also found an increase in total sperm length within individual males between the arrival and nestling period. This seasonal variation may reflect constraints in the production of fully elongated spermatozoa shortly after arrival at the breeding grounds. There was no evidence of an effect of male age on sperm dimensions. In many previous studies on laboratory populations of several insect, mammal and avian species, heritabilities of sperm morphology were higher, whereas evolvabilities were similar. Explanations for the differences in heritability may include variation in the environment (laboratory vs. wild), intensity of sexual selection via sperm competition (high vs. low) and genetic architecture that involves unusual linkage disequilibrium coupled with overdominance in one of the studied species.

show abstract

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 56%

“…For example, sperm and ejaculate traits can vary with male age. In some species, older males have longer, faster and more spermatozoa (Gasparini, Marino, Boschetto, & Pilastro, ; Green, ; Laskemoen et al., ). Furthermore, sperm morphology has been found to vary with the advancement of the breeding season in natural bird populations (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Moderate heritability and low evolvability of sperm morphology in a species with high risk of sperm competition, the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis

Edme

Zobač

Korsten

et al. 2018

J of Evolutionary Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…(2007) illustrates a plastic response of sperm length to an environmental factor. Sperm length is not usually considered to be a plastic trait, despite evidence for an effect of male’s age and body size in the rove beetle A. bilineata (Green, 2003), temperature in dung flies (Hellriegel & Blanckenhorn, 2002) and larval density in D. melanogaster (Morrow et al. , 2008).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, there is some evidence that environmental factors influence sperm length. Sperm length increases with temperature in dung flies (Hellriegel & Blanckenhorn, 2002; but see Gage & Cook, 1994), with males’s age in the rove beetle Alleocharo bilineata (Green, 2003) and decreases with larval density in D. melanogaster (Morrow et al. , 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sperm competition and maternal effects differentially influence testis and sperm size in Callosobruchus maculatus

Hosken

Vasudev

Tregenza

et al. 2009

J of Evolutionary Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The evolutionary factors affecting testis size are well documented, with sperm competition being of major importance. However, the factors affecting sperm length are not well understood; there are no clear theoretical predictions and the empirical evidence is inconsistent. Recently, maternal effects have been implicated in sperm length variation, a finding that may offer insights into its evolution. We investigated potential proximate and microevolutionary factors influencing testis and sperm size in the bruchid beetle Callosobruchus maculatus using a combined approach of an artificial evolution experiment over 90 generations and an environmental effects study. We found that while polyandry seems to select for larger testes, it had no detectable effect on sperm length. Furthermore, population density, a proximate indicator of sperm competition risk, was not significantly associated with sperm length or testis size variation. However, there were strong maternal effects influencing sperm length.

show abstract

“…Each dot represents one species. Data from (Birkhead and Fletcher, '95;Koehler, '95;Hosken, '97;Birkhead and Møller, '98;Gage, '98;Johnson and Briskie, '99;Presgraves et al, '99;Lino-Neto et al, 2000;Morrow and Gage, 2000;Morrow and Gage, 2001;Swallow and Wilkinson, 2002;Teixeira et al, 2002;Byrne et al, 2003;Kubo-Irie et al, 2003;Green, 2003;Joly et al, 2004;Minder et al, 2005;Stoltz and Neff, 2006;Baer et al, 2006;Psenicka et al, 2006a,b, N 5 731).…”

Section: Species Analyzedmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptation to long sperm in Drosophila: correlated development of the sperm roller and sperm packaging

2007

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sperm are generally small and produced in huge numbers, but some species combine exaggerated sperm length with extremely limited numbers of sperm, an evolutionary trend that deviates from the theory of anisogamy. Sperm gigantism has arisen recurrently in various species, but insects exhibit the longest sperm, with some species of the Drosophilidae family producing sperm up to 6 cm in length. The anatomical, cytological, and physiological requirements for males to cope with these giant sperm were hitherto poorly understood. In this paper, we investigate the internal morphology of the male reproductive tract, and highlight specific features that may be linked to this increase in sperm size. We focus on species in the repleta group, within which sperm length varies by a factor of 35. An associated development of the sperm roller, a special twisting device inserted between the testis and the seminal vesicle, is demonstrated. Its length and the number of coils involved increase with sperm size, and it allows individual sperm to swell and roll into a spermatic pellet before reaching the seminal vesicle. This process occurs independently of and in addition to the sperm bundle coiling that takes place at the base of the testis. It is suggested that the emergence and development of the sperm roller may be a male adaptation to sperm gigantism.

show abstract

Age-related variation in mean sperm length, in the rove beetle Aleochara bilineata

Cited by 31 publications

References 24 publications

Moderate heritability and low evolvability of sperm morphology in a species with high risk of sperm competition, the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis

Moderate heritability and low evolvability of sperm morphology in a species with high risk of sperm competition, the collared flycatcher Ficedula albicollis

Sperm competition and maternal effects differentially influence testis and sperm size in Callosobruchus maculatus

Adaptation to long sperm in Drosophila: correlated development of the sperm roller and sperm packaging

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About