No evidence for female kin association, indications for extragroup paternity, and sex‐biased dispersal patterns in wild western gorillas

Masi, Shelly; Austerlitz, Frédéric; Chabaud, Chloé; Lafosse, Sophie; Marchi, Nina; Georges, Myriam; Dessarps-Freichey, Françoise; Miglietta, Silvia; Sotto‐Mayor, Andrea; Galli, Aurore San; Meulman, Ellen; Pouydebat, Emmanuelle; Krief, Sabrina; Todd, Angelique; Fuh, Terence; Breuer, Thomas; Ségurel, Laure

doi:10.1002/ece3.7596

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…The extreme dissociation of Y-chromosomal diversity from a geographic distance may be a consequence of the greater dispersal ranges of males as compared to female gorillas (Douadi et al, 2007;Masi et al, 2021;Roy, Gray, et al, 2014) in combination with the low effective population size of the Y-chromosome due to uniparental inheritance, and higher male reproductive skew brought about by a high degree of polygyny (Bradley et al, 2005;Breuer et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, in contrast to the Y‐chromosomal data, the geographic distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes and some autosomal data exhibit a pattern of isolation‐by‐distance (Anthony et al, 2007; Clifford et al, 2004; McManus et al, 2014). The extreme dissociation of Y‐chromosomal diversity from a geographic distance may be a consequence of the greater dispersal ranges of males as compared to female gorillas (Douadi et al, 2007; Masi et al, 2021; Roy, Gray, et al, 2014) in combination with the low effective population size of the Y‐chromosome due to uniparental inheritance, and higher male reproductive skew brought about by a high degree of polygyny (Bradley et al, 2005; Breuer et al, 2010).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unlike the male‐philopatric chimpanzees and bonobos, gorillas live in groups featuring dispersal by both males and females (Harcourt & Stewart, 2007; Robbins & Robbins, 2018). In addition, reproduction in the group is dominated by one or very few males (Breuer et al, 2010; Masi et al, 2021; Vigilant et al, 2015). This means that the phylogeography of gorilla Y‐chromosomes is of particular interest because it is likely shaped by two opposing forces: the potential for long‐distance male dispersal which increases diversity and reduces differentiation among populations (Douadi et al, 2007; Masi et al, 2021; Roy, Gray, et al, 2014) and high male reproductive skew which reduces diversity and leads to rapid differentiation of isolated populations (Bradley et al, 2005; Breuer et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The complex Y‐chromosomal history of gorillas

Städele

Arandjelovic

Nixon

et al. 2022

American J Primatol

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Studies of the evolutionary relationships among gorilla populations using autosomal and mitochondrial sequences suggest that male‐mediated gene flow may have been important in the past, but data on the Y‐chromosomal relationships among the gorilla subspecies are limited. Here, we genotyped blood and noninvasively collected fecal samples from 12 captives and 257 wild male gorillas of known origin representing all four subspecies (Gorilla gorilla gorilla, G. g. diehli, G. beringei beringei, and G. b. graueri) at 10 Y‐linked microsatellite loci resulting in 102 unique Y‐haplotypes for 224 individuals. We found that western lowland gorilla (G. g. gorilla) haplotypes were consistently more diverse than any other subspecies for all measures of diversity and comprised several genetically distinct groups. However, these did not correspond to geographical proximity and some closely related haplotypes were found several hundred kilometers apart. Similarly, our broad sampling of eastern gorillas revealed that mountain (G. b. beringei) and Grauer's (G. b. graueri) gorilla Y‐chromosomal haplotypes did not form distinct clusters. These observations suggest structure in the ancestral population with subsequent mixing of differentiated haplotypes by male dispersal for western lowland gorillas, and postisolation migration or incomplete lineage sorting due to short divergence times for eastern gorillas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The complex Y‐chromosomal history of gorillas

Städele

Arandjelovic

Nixon

et al. 2022

American J Primatol

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“…On the other hand, small shifts may be mainly related to male reproductive strategies, as observed for a former group of western gorillas in CAR, who moved its home range to acquire a sub-adult female before returning to its original range after she joined the group (Cipolletta 2004). In western gorillas, females are known to disperse when they reach maturity (Stokes, Parnell, and Olejniczak 2003) but over shorter distances than males (Masi et al 2021). Males (solitary or in groups) could therefore move to attract potential dispersing females from other groups or to prevent their females from dispersing by avoiding the other group's home range (Breuer, Robbins, and Robbins 2016;Cipolletta 2004).…”

Section: Spatial Shifts and Socio-ecological Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passive segregation and multi-scale space-use adjustments to socio-ecological variables in western gorillas

Robira

Benhamou

Breuer

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Understanding what are the proximate mechanisms shaping species’ space-use dynamics, and at which scale, can provide insights into species socio-ecology. This is crucial information for both applied (e.g., conservation) and theoretical questions (e.g. individuals’ coexistence/segregation). Yet, longitudinal views of the space-use dynamics of animal species are generally lacking. Taking advantage of an unprecedented long-term data set (up to 8 years) on ranging patterns of wild western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla), we investigated the dynamics of home ranges in relation to socio-ecological variables in five habituated groups in Central Africa. First, we looked at the scale at which their ranging movements are stationary. Second, we studied how space use is shaped by (i) foraging and intra-group constraints (e.g., diet, group size, presence of offspring) by focusing on group daily path lengths, and by (ii) inter-group competition (direct or indirect), by quantifying static and dynamic interactions in neighbouring group-dyads. We found that gorilla groups shifted the barycenter of their home range 0.17 per year by a distance larger than the mean home range radius. Movements within the home range were highly dependent on an ecological factor (seasonal diet) and on the group composition, particularly on the presence of dependent infants. Repeatedly visited sites were also used the longest, but their locations differed seasonally, suggesting use of mnesic abilities for foraging. There was little overlap between the home ranges of neighbouring groups that did not tend to move away from each other more than expected at random. Groups also ventured into, and slept in, the central part of the home range of a neighbouring group. Overall, this highlights the absence of territoriality and suggests that spatial segregation should be the simple consequence of avoidance of depleted areas. This study shows how social and ecological constraints may shape space-use patterns at different scales in a non-territorial species. It also raises questions on the cognitive mechanisms underlying high foraging efficiency in environments shared with competitors.

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“…This results in variable group compositions of single-male and multimale groups and a variable mating system, showing both polygyny and polygynandry [34]. This differs considerably from other gorilla sub-species where groups are predominantly single-male and have a polygynous mating system [35,36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple mechanisms for inbreeding avoidance used simultaneously in a wild ape

Morrison,

Ndayishimiye,

Stoinski

et al. 2023

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Mating with close kin can have considerable negative fitness consequences, which are expected to result in selective pressure for inbreeding avoidance mechanisms, such as dispersal, mate choice and post-copulatory biases. Captive studies have suggested that inbreeding avoidance through mate choice is far less widespread than expected and may be absent where other mechanisms already limit inbreeding. However, few studies have examined multiple mechanisms of inbreeding avoidance simultaneously, particularly in the wild. We use 13 years of detailed dispersal, copulation and paternity data from mountain gorillas to examine inbreeding avoidance. We find that partial dispersal of both sexes results in high kinship in multimale groups, but that copulations between close kin occur 40% less than expected. We find strong kin discrimination in mate choice, with significant avoidance of maternal kin but more limited avoidance of paternal kin. We find no evidence for post-copulatory inbreeding avoidance. Our analyses support familiarity-based mechanisms of kin identification and age-based avoidance that limits mating between fathers and daughters in their natal group. Our findings demonstrate that multiple complementary mechanisms for inbreeding avoidance can evolve in a single species and suggest that inbreeding avoidance through mate choice may enable more flexible dispersal systems to evolve.

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No evidence for female kin association, indications for extragroup paternity, and sex‐biased dispersal patterns in wild western gorillas

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Cited by 10 publications

References 104 publications

The complex Y‐chromosomal history of gorillas

The complex Y‐chromosomal history of gorillas

Passive segregation and multi-scale space-use adjustments to socio-ecological variables in western gorillas

Multiple mechanisms for inbreeding avoidance used simultaneously in a wild ape

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