Diversity of social-genetic relationships in the socially monogamous pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) breeding in Western Siberia

Abstract

We explored the genetic background of social interactions in two breeding metapopulations of the pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) in Western Siberia. In 2005, we sampled blood from birds breeding in study areas located in the city of Tomsk and in a natural forest 13 km southward of Tomsk (Western Siberia, Russia). We sampled 30 males, 46 females, 268 nestlings (46 nests) in the urban settlement of pied flycatcher, and 232 males, 250 females, 1,485 nestlings (250 nests) in the woodland plot. DNA fingerprinting was carried out using eight microsatellite loci, which were amplified by two multiplex-PCRs and analyzed by capillary electrophoresis. About 50–58% of all couples were socially and genetically monogamous in both study plots. However, almost all possible social and genetic interactions were detected for non-monogamous couples: polygamy, polyandry, helping, adoption, and egg dumping. Differences in the rate of polygyny and the rate of extra-pair paternity between both study sites could be explained by differences in environmental heterogeneity and breeding density. Our findings suggest that egg dumping, adoption, polygamy, extra pair copulation, and other types of social-genetic interactions are modifications of the monogamous social system caused by patchy environment, breeding density, and birds’ breeding status.

Heritability of the extra-pair mating behaviour of the pied flycatcher in Western Siberia

“…Flycatchers form a pair bond for the current breeding season and change social partners with each subsequent reproduction event (serial monogamy). Some individuals have polygamous relationships within one breeding season ( Grinkov et al, 2018 ).…”

“…Males were caught feeding their nestlings at the age of 9‒11 days. More detailed information about the monitoring scheme of the population, the frequency of bird catching, their treatment, as well as a detailed description of the research area can be found in our earlier publication ( Grinkov et al, 2018 ).…”

“…All work for paternity analysis was conducted at the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology at Heidelberg University in Germany. For characteristics of the molecular markers used in the study and for a detailed description of the assessment of the paternity of each nestling, we refer to our previous publication ( Grinkov et al, 2018 ).…”

“…However, it seems that in the case of the pied flycatcher there is a covariance between the observed rate of the EPP and the true rate of EPCs. In the studied population, females can have up to three extra-pair sires ( Grinkov et al, 2018 ). At least among 53 females with EPO, the EPO number and the EPP rate (this is the ratio of EPO to the number of nestlings in the brood) positively correlated with the number of extra-pair males (Pearson’s product-moment correlation, r = 0.40, p < 0.003, and r = 0.40, p < 0.003, respectively).…”

“…The percentage of EPO in a brood, and especially the proportion of those couples whose broods have EPO, can vary widely even within one species. For example in the pied flycatcher ( Ficedula hypoleuca ), the proportion of broods containing EPO varies from 6.5% to 40% between populations ( Lifjeld, Slagsvold & Lampe, 1991 ; Rätti et al, 1995 ; Lubjuhn et al, 2000 ; Slagsvold et al, 2001 ; Lehtonen, Primmer & Laaksonen, 2009 ; Moreno et al, 2010 , 2015 ; Canal, Jovani & Potti, 2012 ; De la Hera et al, 2013 ; González-Braojos et al, 2013 ; Tomotani et al, 2017 ; Grinkov et al, 2018 ).…”