Senescent sperm performance in old male birds

Møller, Anders Pape; Mousseau, Timothy A.; Rudolfsen, Geir; Balbontı́n, Javier; Marzal, Alfonso; Hermosell, Ignacio G.; Lope, Florentino de

doi:10.1111/j.1420-9101.2008.01650.x

Cited by 59 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Since sperm traits of male birds tend to degrade with age (Møller et al 2009), it is unlikely that these young females selectively copulated with older EP males to assure fertilization, unless sperm transfer improves with male age. It is more likely that young females assigned paternity to EP males older than their partners to obtain better genes for their offspring, consistent with predictions from life history theory (Manning 1985;Kokko 1998;Brooks and Kemp 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive effects of male and female age on extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous seabird

Ramos

Nunziata

Lance

et al. 2014

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Females sometimes obtain older sires for their offspring through extra-pair interactions, but how female age influences paternity is largely unexplored and interactive effects across the age span of both sexes have not been analyzed. To test whether female choice of sire age varies with female age in the blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii), we examined associations between ages of both partners and the probability of extrapair paternity (EPP) in 350 broods of parents up to 22 years old in a single breeding season. Extra-pair paternity enables a female to select an alternative sire for her offspring and could function to avoid or achieve particular combinations of parental ages. A male age×female age interaction revealed that in young females (≤4 years), EPP decreased with increasing age of the social partner, whereas in old females (≥8 years), it increased. Moreover, sires of extra-pair (EP) chicks of young females paired to young males were on average 6.33 years older than the females' social partners. Since female boobies control copulatory access, this pattern could imply that young females choose old sires for their proven genetic quality and that old females avoid very old males because matings with them may risk infertility or genetic defects in offspring. Taking female age into account and observing across the whole age span may be necessary for understanding female age-based mate choice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive effects of male and female age on extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous seabird

Ramos

Nunziata

Lance

et al. 2014

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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show abstract

“…Hence, sperm morphology, sperm velocity, and the relationships between sperm traits may vary according to male age and sexual activity. In addition, recent studies have shown that sperm quality decreases as males get older (Dean et al 2007;Pizzari et al 2008b;Møller et al 2009), and male age may thus confound the relationships between sperm morphology, velocity, and motility through senescence processes. How social status, male age, and male sexual activity relate to sperm characteristics in the house sparrow still remains to be investigated.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sperm morphology, swimming velocity, and longevity in the house sparrow Passer domesticus

Helfenstein

Podevin

Richner

2009

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Sperm competition exerts strong selection on males to produce spermatozoa with an optimal morphology that maximizes their fertilization success. Long sperm were first suggested to be favored because they should swim faster. However, studies that investigated the relationship between sperm length and sperm competitive ability or sperm swimming velocity yielded contradictory results. More recently, ratios of the different sections of a spermatozoon (the head, midpiece, and flagellum) were suggested to be more crucial in determining swimming velocity. Additionally, sperm ability to remain and survive in the female storage organs may also influence fertilization success, so that optimal sperm morphology may rather maximize sperm longevity than velocity. In this study, we investigated how sperm morphology is related to sperm velocity and sperm longevity in the house sparrow Passer domesticus. Sperm velocity was found to be correlated with head/flagellum ratio. Sperm with small heads relative to their flagellum showed higher swimming velocity. Additionally, shorter sperm were found to live longer. Finally, we found sperm morphological traits to vary substantially within males and the head/flagellum ratio to be unrelated to total sperm length. We discuss the hypothesis that the substantial within-male variation in sperm morphology reflects a male strategy to produce a diversity of sperm from long, fast-swimming to short, long-living sperm to maximize their fertilization success in a context of sperm competition.

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“…Møller et al 2009). Chick provisioning is also shared with the male, but little is known about age-specific provisioning behaviour in male or female birds.…”

Section: K1mentioning

confidence: 99%

Great tits growing old: selective disappearance and the partitioning of senescence to stages within the breeding cycle

et al. 2009

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Deterioration of reproductive traits with age is observed in an increasing number of species. Although such deterioration is often attributed to reproductive senescence, a within-individual decline in reproductive success with age, few studies on wild animals have focused on direct fitness measures while accounting for selective disappearance and terminal effects, and to our knowledge none have determined how senescence effects arise from underlying reproductive traits. We show for female great tits that such an approach helps understanding of the onset, impact and architecture of senescence. Cross-sectional analysis of 49 years of breeding data shows annual recruit production to decline from 3.5 years of age, this decline affecting 9 per cent of females each year. Longitudinal analyses, however, show that selective disappearance of poor-quality breeders partly masks senescence, which in fact starts at 2.8 years and affects 21 per cent of females each year. There is no evidence for abrupt terminal effects. Analyses of underlying traits show no deterioration in clutch size, but significant declines in brood size and fledgling number. Furthermore, these traits contribute K9, 12 and 39 per cent to the senescent decline in recruit production, respectively. Besides providing detailed knowledge of the patterns and architecture of senescence in a natural population, these results illustrate the importance of modelling individual variation, and facilitate study of the underlying mechanisms of senescence.

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Senescent sperm performance in old male birds

Cited by 59 publications

References 52 publications

Interactive effects of male and female age on extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous seabird

Interactive effects of male and female age on extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous seabird

Sperm morphology, swimming velocity, and longevity in the house sparrow Passer domesticus

Great tits growing old: selective disappearance and the partitioning of senescence to stages within the breeding cycle

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