Reproductive failure of dominant males in the poeciliid fish Limia perugiae determined by DNA fingerprinting.

Abstract

Hierarchical structures among male individuals in a population are frequently reflected in differences in aggressive and reproductive behavior and access to the females. In general, social dominance requires large investments, which in turn then may have to be compensated for by high reproductive success. However, this hypothesis has so far only been sufficiently tested in small mating groups (one or two males with one or two females) due to the difficulties of determining paternity by conventional methods. DNA fmgerprinting overcomes these problems by offering the possibility to determine genetic relationships and mating patterns within larger groups

Genetic assessment of the reproductive success of Atlantic salmon precocious parr by means of VNTR loci

“…The advent of DNA fingerprinting through VNTR loci has facilitated the investigation of the reproductive success and breeding behaviour of many animal species (Burke et al, 1991;Schartl et a!., 1993). These highly polymorphic loci provide a simple and easily interpretable way of identifying parents and their progenies (Burke, 1989).…”

Predation environment predicts divergent life-history phenotypes among populations of the livebearing fish Brachyrhaphis rhabdophora

“…Small males could also achieve higher fitness under some environmental conditions. Schartl et al (1993) found that in the related livebearing fish Limia perugiae, small male mating success increased as the density of males increased, a result apparently caused by a tradeoff in large males between mate defense and courting effort. Luyten and Liley (1985) suggested that sneaking males could have an advantage in turbid water (such as during the wet season) when visual courting cues cannot be easily perceived.…”

Beyond Dominance: The Importance of Leverage

“…By only examining the relationship of dominance to reproductive success (e.g., Dewsbury 1981;Huck et al 1988;de Ruiter and van Hooff 1993;Inoue et al 1993;Schartl et al 1993;Lambert et al 1994;Holekamp et al 1997;Pusey et al 1997;Bartos and Perner 1998;Takahata et al 1999;van Noordwijk and van Schaik 1999), a study may be incomplete. The influence of rank on reproductive success is more complex than predicted by aggression-based models (Berard 1999).…”