Paternal age negatively affects sperm production of the progeny

Abstract

Parental age has profound consequences for offspring’s phenotype. However, whether patrilineal age affects offspring sperm production remains unknown, despite the importance of sperm production for male reproductive success in species facing post‐copulatory sexual selection. Using a longitudinal dataset on ejaculate attributes of the houbara bustard, we showed that offspring sired by old fathers had different age‐dependent trajectories of sperm production compared to offspring sired by young fathers. Specifically, they produced less sperm (−48%) in their first year of life, and 14% less during their lifetime. Paternal age had the strongest effect, with weak evidence for grandpaternal or great grandpaternal age effects. These results show that paternal age can affect offspring reproductive success by reducing sperm production, establishing an intergenerational link between ageing and sexual selection.

Separating the effects of paternal age and mating history: Evidence for sex‐specific paternal effect in eastern mosquitofish

“…2020; also see: Noguera 2021; Vuarin et al. 2021). In our experimental study, we found no robust evidence of paternal senescence in the ability to sire high‐quality offspring once we disentangled paternal mating history from age.…”

“…2020; Vuarin et al. 2021). Finally, we found no effects of paternal age or mating history on daughters’ reproductive traits.…”

“…2019; bustards: Vuarin et al. 2019, 2021), partly due to higher offspring mortality rates (e.g., ungulates: Ruiz‐López et al. 2010; zebra finch: Noguera et al.…”

Biparental age effects in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides

“…Nonetheless, paternal age effects have been shown to exist in both human (Kong et al 2012) and animal populations (Priest et al 2002;Preston et al 2015;Fay et al 2016;Vuarin et al 2019;Vuarin et al 2021), with the majority showing similar detrimental effects as with maternal ageing. As a result, we may also expect comparable patterns in both juvenile survival and offspring adult lifespan across taxonomic groups, however no formal reviews have yet been conducted (although see Table 1 Monaghan et al 2020).…”

“…A fuller understanding of parental age effects comes from simultaneously investigating the joint effects of both paternal and maternal age (Laaksonen et al 2002;Priest et al 2002;Auld and Charmantier 2011;Torres et al 2011;Ducatez et al 2012;Auld et al 2013;Bouwhuis et al 2015;Brommer et al 2015;Preston et al 2015;Fay et al 2016;Whelan et al 2016;Vuarin et al 2021). When biparental ages are varied at least semi-independently, then maternal-by-paternal age interactions can be resolved, and this can tell us how ageing in one parent can dampen or amplify the effect of age in the other (Auld and Charmantier 2011;Ducatez et al 2012;Auld et al 2013;Bouwhuis et al 2015;Whelan et al 2016).…”