Reproductive mode and the genetic benefits of polyandry

Zeh, Jeanne A.; Zeh, David W.

doi:10.1006/anbe.2000.1705

Cited by 282 publications

(194 citation statements)

References 164 publications

(187 reference statements)

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“…Different sources of evidence suggest this may be the case in some animal species (Zeh & Zeh, 2001). Its occurrence in odonates needs to be tested.…”

Section: What Drives the Co-evolution?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sperm competition in Odonata (Insecta): the evolution of female sperm storage and rivals' sperm displacement

2003

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Odonates (dragonflies) are well known for the ability of the males to displace sperm stored in the female's spermstorage organs during copulation. By this means, copulating males are able to increase their fertilization success. This ability has been used as an example to illustrate a conflict of interests between the sexes in which males have evolved sperm-displacement mechanisms whilst females have presumably evolved means to avoid sperm displacement. The present review has four aims: (1) to describe the copulatory mechanisms used during sperm displacement; (2) to analyse the causes of sperm usage patterns; (3) to discuss this information using current hypotheses on conflict between the sexes; (4) to illuminate topics for further research. Four copulatory mechanisms are described: sperm removal (physical withdrawal of stored sperm), sperm repositioning ('pushing' of rival sperm to sites where its use will be least likely), female sensory stimulation to induce sperm ejection, and sperm flushing (displacement of sperm using the copulating male's sperm). Sperm-precedence studies in Odonata are scarce and their values vary considerably between species. In those species in which sperm displacement is incomplete, the last copulating male obtains a high but variable short-term fertilization success which decreases with time. Some male and female factors affecting sperm precedence patterns are mentioned: (1) male variation in genital morphology; (2) duration of copulation influenced by the male (the longer the copulation, the more stored sperm displaced); (3) adaptations of the sperm-storage organs that allow the female to manipulate the sperm she has received (i.e. avoiding sperm displacement, re-distributing sperm masses, favouring sperm located in certain sites and ejecting sperm after copulation). We suggest that male and female odonates have co-evolved at the level of genital function with the control of stored sperm as the focus of the conflict. The benefits for males in this co-evolution lie in maximizing their fertilization success. However, it is not clear what females obtain from storing sperm and making it unreachable during sperm displacement. Two hypothetical benefits that females may obtain for which some evidence has been gathered are genetic diversity and viability genes. It is finally suggested that odonates can become excellent subjects of study for testing current ideas related to sexual conflict and speciation processes through sexual selection.

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“…Different sources of evidence suggest this may be the case in some animal species (Zeh & Zeh, 2001). Its occurrence in odonates needs to be tested.…”

Section: What Drives the Co-evolution?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sperm competition in Odonata (Insecta): the evolution of female sperm storage and rivals' sperm displacement

2003

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“…The increasing use of molecular population genetic methods have revealed in the past decade the widespread occurrence of females mating with multiple males throughout the animal kingdom (Zeh and Zeh, 2001;Knight, 2002). One of the general principles of polyandry is that males should try to maximize their semen contributions in relation to competing inseminating males.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paternity skew in seven species of honeybees (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Apis)

et al. 2005

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-Honeybees (Apis) show an extremely polyandrous mating system. In general honeybee queens mate with at least ten drones. The reproductive success of the drones is usually biased giving rise to speculations of a first or last male advantage. Especially for A. andreniformis and A. florea a first male advantage was hypothesized due to the peculiar anatomy of their male genitalia. We reanalyzed data from the literature by using a sample size calibration method to survey the differences and similarities in paternity skew among species in the genus Apis. The paternity skew among seven honeybee species differed significantly, particularly due to the rare patrilines. The sorting algorithm, i.e. the ranking of the patrilines, had, however, a considerable effect on the paternity skew pattern. The frequent patrilines appeared to be similarly distributed in all tested species. As a consequence the proposed first male advantage in the dwarf honeybees is not supported by empirical data.Apis / honeybee / polyandry / patrilines / paternity skew

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“…Reasons for such multiple mating can vary greatly as a consequence of the diversity of mating patterns, and they range from deliberate choice of multiple partners by females (e.g. Zeh and Zeh 2001) to sexual coercion by males (Thornhill 1980;Clutton-Brock and Parker 1995;Qvarnström and Forsgen 1998). The latter is particularly frequent where the operational sex ratio (OSR) is strongly male-biased and/or ecological conditions lead to clumped aggregations where female movements are restricted and males cannot effectively control mating access to females (Smuts and Smuts 1993;Clutton-Brock and Parker 1995;Gowaty 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%