Rewards of promiscuity

Olsson, Mats; Madsen, Thomas; Shine, Richard; Gullberg, Annica; Tegelström, Håkan

doi:10.1038/372230a0

Cited by 52 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…As discussed, there appears to be a risk of inbreeding in this C. ornatus population; however, there was no indication of inbreeding depression because heterozygosity was not related to any of the fitness variables. In the sand lizard, Lacerta agilis, there are high costs to mating with relatives and females show sperm choice for distantly related males (Olsson et al 1994;Olsson et al 1996b). Unlike C. ornatus, the sand lizards may be experiencing a recent increase in inbreeding risk due to recent changes in population structure and are possibly currently passing through a bottleneck (Gullberg et al 1999).…”

Section: Inbreeding and Fitnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mate Choice, Genetic Incompatibility, and Outbreeding in the Ornate Dragon Lizard, Ctenophorus Ornatus

LeBas

2002

Evolution

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Abstract. There has been recent interest in the role genetic incompatibility may play in mate or sperm choice. One source of incompatibility may be too similar or disparate genomes. An isolated population of the ornate dragon lizard, Ctenophorus ornatus, was followed over a breeding season and parentage assigned to the offspring using microsatellites. It was found that the adults in the population had an eight per cent chance of mating with a relative. I examined whether C. ornatus mate (or fertilize their eggs) with respect to genetic similarity. There was no difference in a female's relatedness to the male in whose territory she resided and her average relatedness to all other males. Neither was there a difference in the relatedness of the male that sired a female's offspring and the female's average relatedness to all other males. There was no evidence of a cost to mating with a more genetically similar mate, because offspring survival was not influenced by degree of inbreeding or outbreeding. However, females that were more outbred had fewer offspring survive. In this small population there are two possible explanations for the decreased fitness associated with outbreeding. First, the species may have an evolutionary history of inbreeding and thus may be susceptible to outbreeding depression. Second, as fitter individuals produce more offspring, these offspring have an increased probability of breeding with relatives, leading to an indirect relationship between fitness and outbreeding.

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Section: Inbreeding and Fitnessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mate Choice, Genetic Incompatibility, and Outbreeding in the Ornate Dragon Lizard, Ctenophorus Ornatus

LeBas

2002

Evolution

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“…Furthermore, in many cases, such as the sheep, wren, chimpanzee and seal examples cited above, the species' natural history renders material benefit explanations tenuous at best. In other instances, correlative methods (Madsen et al 1992;Olsson et al 1994;Kempanaers et al 1999) or manipulative experimental designs (Tregenza & Wedell 1998;Newcomer et al 1999) have effectively eliminated material benefits, thereby isolating genetic benefits as the cause of the enhanced RS of polyandrous females.…”

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confidence: 99%

Reproductive mode and the genetic benefits of polyandry

2001

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“…Indeed, with the exception of one recent study of field crickets (33), the few investigations that provide support for genetic benefit hypotheses have been based strictly on observational evidence. Field investigations of adders (24) and sand lizards (34,35) have demonstrated a correlation between mate number and female fitness. However, as in the field cricket study (33), the populations investigated were likely to have experienced recent genetic bottlenecks and thus inbreeding effects may have exerted an atypically strong effect on female mating tactics and reproductive success (RS).…”

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confidence: 99%

Genetic benefits enhance the reproductive success of polyandrous females

Newcomer

Zeh

1999

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

198

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Although it is generally accepted that females can gain material benefits by mating with more than one male, the proposal that polyandry provides genetic benefits remains controversial, largely because direct experimental support is lacking. Here, we report the results of a study testing for genetic benefits to polyandry in the pseudoscorpion Cordylochernes scorpioides. In an experiment that controlled for male mating experience and the number of spermatophores accepted by a female, twice-mated females received either one sperm-packet from each of two different males (the ''DM'' treatment) or two sperm-packets from a single male (the same male or ''SM'' treatment). Over their lifetime, DM females gave birth to 32% more offspring than did SM females, primarily because of a significantly reduced rate of spontaneous abortion. This result could not be attributed to male infertility nor to lack of sexual receptivity in males paired with previous mates. Spermatophore and sperm numbers did not differ between males presented with a previous mate and males paired with a new female. Because SM and DM females received the same quantity of ejaculate, it was possible to eliminate material benefits as a contributor to the enhanced reproductive success of DM females. The reduction in embryo failure rate achieved by DM females is most consistent with the genetic incompatibility avoidance hypothesis, i.e., that polyandry enables females to exploit postcopulatory mechanisms for reducing the risk and͞or cost of fertilization by genetically incompatible sperm. This study, which rigorously controlled for material benefits and excluded inbreeding effects, demonstrates that polyandry provides genetic benefits that significantly enhance female lifetime reproductive success.The revolution in molecular genetic techniques that has taken place over the past decade has revealed one of nature's best-kept secrets, namely, that across a wide array of species, females frequently mate with more than one male (1, 2). As DNA evidence of multiple paternity accumulates for organisms as ecologically and phylogenetically divergent as fruit flies (3) and humpback whales (4), it is becoming clear that polyandry is a common female mating strategy, although it is often covert and difficult to detect at the behavioral level. Polyandry as a pervasive feature of natural populations challenges the long-held view of females as the choosy, monogamous sex (5-7) and raises the question of why, considering the potentially high risks and costs involved, females would mate with multiple males (8-9).As evolutionary biologists increasingly recognize the importance of considering reproduction from the female perspective (10), a variety of hypotheses have been proposed to explain why selection should favor the evolution of polyandry. With

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Rewards of promiscuity

Cited by 52 publications

References 2 publications

Mate Choice, Genetic Incompatibility, and Outbreeding in the Ornate Dragon Lizard, Ctenophorus Ornatus

Mate Choice, Genetic Incompatibility, and Outbreeding in the Ornate Dragon Lizard, Ctenophorus Ornatus

Reproductive mode and the genetic benefits of polyandry

Genetic benefits enhance the reproductive success of polyandrous females

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