Bet-hedging as a mechanism for the evolution of polyandry, revisited

Abstract

Females that mate with multiple males (polyandry) may reduce the risk that their eggs are fertilized by a single unsuitable male. About 25 years ago it was hypothesized that bet-hedging could function as a mechanism favoring the evolution of polyandry, but this idea is controversial because theory indicates that bet-hedging via polyandry can compensate the costs of mating only in small populations. Nevertheless, populations are often spatially structured, and even in the absence of spatial structure, mate-choice opportunity can be limited to a few potential partners. We examined the effectiveness of bet-hedging in such situations with simulations carried out under two scenarios: (1) intrinsic male quality, with offspring survival determined by male phenotype (male's ability to generate viable offspring), and (2) genetic incompatibility (offspring fitness determined nonadditively by parental genotypes). We find higher fixation probabilities for a polyandrous strategy compared to a monandrous strategy if complete reproductive failure due to male effects or parental incompatibility is pervasive in the population. Our results also indicate that bet-hedging polyandry can delay the extinction of small demes. Our results underscore the potential for bet-hedging to provide benefits to polyandrous females and have valuable implications for conservation biology.

Maternal source of variability in the embryo development of an annual killifish

“…In this case, variability in parental genotypes results in adaptive variation in offspring phenotypes (e.g. Garcia‐Gonzalez et al ., ; Yasui and Garcia‐Gonzalez, ).…”

A Review of Patterns of Multiple Paternity Across Sea Turtle Rookeries

“…Whether females benefit from promiscuous behaviour has been frequently reviewed and empirically tested, both experimentally and in natural populations, and in a wide variety of animal models. The suggested benefits include fertilisation assurance (Caspers et al, 2014;Uller and Olsson, 2005), genetic benefits ( Jennions and Petrie, 2000;Olsson et al, 2011;Slatyer et al, 2012b;Zeh and Zeh, 2001), inbreeding avoidance (While et al, 2014), postcopulatory sexual selection (Adams et al, 2005;Caspers et al, 2014;Zeh and Zeh, 2008), "hedge-betting" against infertility, genetic incompatibility or variable environments (Garcia-Gonzalez et al, 2015;Yasui and Garcia-Gonzalez, 2016) and obtaining protection or resources from additional males (Arnqvist and Nilsson, 2000;Reichard et al, 2007;Slatyer et al, 2012a). In contrast, while the mate-encounter-rate hypothesis has been explored with theory (Kokko and Mappes, 2013), suggested as a logistical limit on polygamous mating (Avise and Liu, 2011), and invoked in cases for which there are no obvious benefits for females (for example, Byrne and Roberts, 2004;Griffiths et al, 2012;Uller and Olsson, 2008;Zhao et al, 2016), it has been little explored in natural populations.…”

Pre-maturation social experience affects female reproductive strategies and offspring fitness in a highly polyandrous insect

“…A recently meta-analysis that encompassed 21 animal species showed no relationship between male traits under pre-copulatory female choice (e.g., ornaments and courtship displays) and traits related to ejaculate quality (Mautz et al 2013). If males vary in the amount of prostaglandin-synthesizing compounds present in their spermatophores, and if females cannot access the composition of the spermatophores they acquire, polyandry can act as a bet-hedging strategy (Yasui and Garcia-Gonzalez 2016) to ensure the necessary amount of chemicals responsible for mating-induced egg release.…”