Does testis size track expected mating success in yellow dung flies?

Blanckenhorn, Wolf U.; Hellriegel, Barbara; Hosken, David J.; Jann, P.; Altwegg, Res; Ward, Paul I.

doi:10.1111/j.0269-8463.2004.00864.x

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Observational studies, such as ours, are better suited to the model selection than to null hypothesis testing [66]–[68]. All models were fitted with maximum likelihood implemented in the program R (ML, lm function; [65].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Frequency Groans Indicate Larger and More Dominant Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Males

2008

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BackgroundModels of honest advertisement predict that sexually selected calls should signal male quality. In most vertebrates, high quality males have larger body sizes that determine higher social status and in turn higher reproductive success. Previous research has emphasised the importance of vocal tract resonances or formant frequencies of calls as cues to body size in mammals. However, the role of the acoustic features of vocalisations as cues to other quality-related phenotypic characteristics of callers has rarely been investigated.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe examined whether the acoustic structure of fallow deer groans provides reliable information on the quality of the caller, by exploring the relationships between male quality (body size, dominance rank, and mating success) and the frequency components of calls (fundamental frequency, formant frequencies, and formant dispersion). We found that body size was not related to the fundamental frequency of groans, whereas larger males produced groans with lower formant frequencies and lower formant dispersion. Groans of high-ranking males were characterised by lower minimum fundamental frequencies and to a lesser extent, by lower formant dispersions. Dominance rank was the factor most strongly related to mating success, with higher-ranking males having higher mating success. The minimum fundamental frequency and the minimum formant dispersion were indirectly related to male mating success (through dominance rank).Conclusion/SignificanceOur study is the first to show that sexually selected vocalisations can signal social dominance in mammals other than primates, and reveals that independent acoustic components encode accurate information on different phenotypic aspects of male quality.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low Frequency Groans Indicate Larger and More Dominant Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Males

2008

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“…Such variation is often evident as variation in testis size, a trait that correlates positively with both sperm production and rate of transfer of sperm and ejaculate during insemination (Møller, 1988, 1989; Hosken & Ward, 2001). Species with higher mating rates are expected to have relatively large testes and produce more sperm, and the same relationship is expected among males within species (Blanckenhorn et al. , 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Male sand crickets trade‐off flight capability for reproductive potential

Sağlam

Roff

Fairbairn

2008

J of Evolutionary Biology

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In this paper, we test the hypothesis that male sand crickets, Gryllus firmus, experience a trade‐off between flight capability and reproductive potential expressed as reduced testis weight in flight‐capable morphs. We used a half‐sib design with 130 sires, three dams per sire and an average of 5.66 males per dam family, for a total of 2206 F1 offspring. Traits measured were head width, somatic dry weight, testis weight, wing morph (micropterous/macropterous), weight of the dorso‐longitudinal flight muscles (DLM) and the functional status of these muscles. Heritabilities of all traits were significant and ranged from 0.14 to 0.43. All traits were positively correlated with body size, but removal of this covariance revealed a highly significant trade‐off, both phenotypically and genetically, between testes size and flight capability as measured by wing morph, DLM size or DLM status. The possible implications of this for morph‐specific reproductive tactics are discussed.

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“…Traits that influence ejaculate production (and therefore potentially ejaculate size, sperm quantity, and sperm quality) have also been shown to exhibit considerable intraspecific variation (mammals: Gomendio et al 1998;Schulte-Hostedde and Millar 2004;Schulte-Hostedde et al 2003;Stockley et al 1994) (birds: Merilä and Sheldon Genetica (2008) 134:5-19 7 1999b) (fish: Neff et al 2003) (insects: Blanckenhorn et al 2004;Gage 1995;Hosken et al 2003a;Simmons et al 1999) (frogs: Hettyey and Roberts 2006), although only a handful of studies have investigated the adaptive basis of this variability with respect to competitive fertilization success. In this regard, studies of wild mammals have been instructive.…”

Section: Sperm Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The genetic basis of traits regulating sperm competition and polyandry: can selection favour the evolution of good- and sexy-sperm?

2007

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The good-sperm and sexy-sperm (GS-SS) hypotheses predict that female multiple mating (polyandry) can fuel sexual selection for heritable male traits that promote success in sperm competition. A major prediction generated by these models, therefore, is that polyandry will benefit females indirectly via their sons' enhanced fertilization success. Furthermore, like classic 'good genes' and 'sexy son' models for the evolution of female preferences, GS-SS processes predict a genetic correlation between genes for female mating frequency (analogous to the female preference) and those for traits influencing fertilization success (the sexually selected traits). We examine the premise for these predictions by exploring the genetic basis of traits thought to influence fertilization success and female mating frequency. We also highlight recent debates that stress the possible genetic constraints to evolution of traits influencing fertilization success via GS-SS processes, including sex-linked inheritance, nonadditive effects, interacting parental genotypes, and trade-offs between integrated ejaculate components. Despite these possible constraints, the available data suggest that male traits involved in sperm competition typically exhibit substantial additive genetic variance and rapid evolutionary responses to selection. Nevertheless, the limited data on the genetic variation in female mating frequency implicate strong genetic maternal effects, including X-linkage, which is inconsistent with GS-SS processes. Although the relative paucity of studies on the genetic basis of polyandry does not allow us to draw firm conclusions about the evolutionary origins of this trait, the emerging pattern of sex linkage in genes for polyandry is more consistent with an evolutionary history of antagonistic selection over mating frequency. We advocate further development of GS-SS theory to take account of the complex evolutionary dynamics imposed by sexual conflict over mating frequency.

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Does testis size track expected mating success in yellow dung flies?

Cited by 11 publications

References 37 publications

Low Frequency Groans Indicate Larger and More Dominant Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Males

Low Frequency Groans Indicate Larger and More Dominant Fallow Deer (Dama dama) Males

Male sand crickets trade‐off flight capability for reproductive potential

The genetic basis of traits regulating sperm competition and polyandry: can selection favour the evolution of good- and sexy-sperm?

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