The cost of success: reproductive effort in male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina)

Galimberti, Filippo; Sanvito, Simona; Braschi, Chiara; Boitani, Luigi

doi:10.1007/s00265-007-0450-y

Cited by 48 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…For some species, energy may be every bit the constraint on male reproductive success that it is for females. Across mammals, most evidence for the energetic effects of mating arise from seasonally-breeding species, suggesting that costs might be most apparent when males experience concentrated periods of reproductive effort (e.g., Cervus elaphus: Clutton-Brock et al 1982; Mirounga leonina: Galimberti et al 2007; Macaca mulatta . However, this volume contains one study of a seasonally-breeding species (M. assamensis) in which males actually fed more when mate-guarding, and in which mating effort was unrelated to body condition (Schülke et al 2014).…”

Section: Energetic Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

Thompson

Georgiev

2014

Int J Primatol

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While males are generally the low investing sex when it comes to offspring care, males of many species experience intense and persistent mating effort. Mating effort incurs a variety of costs which are expected to have non-negligible effects on fitness, as well as how reproductive tactics are selected and investment in mating activity is moderated over time. This special issue features contributions investigating the costs of male mating effort across primate species. Here, we place these exciting new works in context, addressing the specific types of mating effort expected for male primates and the significance of these costs for our understanding of primate life histories and socioecology.

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Section: Energetic Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

Thompson

Georgiev

2014

Int J Primatol

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“…Galimberti et al, 2007;Kotiaho et al, 1998;Lane et al, 2010;Marler et al, 1995;Oberweger and Goller, 2001;Ryan, 1988;Shine and Mason, 2005;Vehrencamp et al, 1989). By experimentally quantifying the energetic costs of nonsperm ejaculate production using robust physiological methods, we show for the first time that non-sperm ejaculate is a large energetic expense, which is comparable with increased metabolic rates of pregnant females.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…Costs of reproduction for females far outweigh those of males (Hayward and Gillooly, 2011); however, evidence also suggests male investment in courtship, mate acquisition and territorial defence is not trivial (Galimberti et al, 2007;Kotiaho et al, 1998;Lane et al, 2010;Marler et al, 1995;Oberweger and Goller, 2001;Ryan, 1988;Vehrencamp et al, 1989). The few studies to quantify costs of ejaculate production have found that sperm production is often limited (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Size dependence in non-sperm ejaculate production is reflected in daily energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate

Friesen

Powers

Copenhaver

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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A number of minor errors were published in J. Exp. Biol. 218, 1410-1418 The corrected sections are reproduced below, with changes highlighted in bold. These changes do not affect the conclusions of the paper. RESULTS Metabolic substrates: respiratory quotientMean respiratory quotient (RQ=VĊ O2 /VȮ 2 , where VĊ O2 is the rate of CO 2 production and VȮ 2 is the rate of O 2 consumption) across treatments and size classes was 0.743. Mean RQ of the mating males (median=0.71) was significantly lower than that of the courting males (median=0.76) [Kruskal-Wallis test, K 1 =24.091 (where the subscript 1 indicates d.f.), P<0.001]. A non-parametric test was used because these data failed a normality test (Shapiro-Wilk, P<0.05). This difference in RQ between courting and mating males was driven by small courting males having a significantly higher RQ than small mating males (Kruskal-Wallis test, K 3 =31.394, P<0.001; multiple comparisons using Dunn's method; Fig. 5). This suggests that small, mating males were using different metabolic substrates after mating from those used by the small, courting males. The shift in RQ, seen only in small males (Fig. 5), provides support for the hypothesis that smaller males are investing in plug production, as a shift in the substrates used in metabolism could be due to shunting resources to plug production from muscular activity (i.e. mate searching and courtship).The authors apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused. ABSTRACTThe non-sperm components of an ejaculate, such as copulatory plugs, can be essential to male reproductive success. But the costs of these ejaculate components are often considered trivial. In polyandrous species, males are predicted to increase energy allocation to the production of non-sperm components, but this allocation is often condition dependent and the energetic costs of their production have never been quantified. Red-sided garter snakes (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis) are an excellent model with which to quantify the energetic costs of non-sperm components of the ejaculate as they exhibit a dissociated reproductive pattern in which sperm production is temporally disjunct from copulatory plug production, mating and plug deposition. We estimated the daily energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate of males after courtship and mating, and used bomb calorimetry to estimate the energy content of copulatory plugs. We found that both daily energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate were significantly higher in small mating males than in courting males, and a single copulatory plug without sperm constitutes 5-18% of daily energy expenditure. To our knowledge, this is the first study to quantify the energetic expense of size-dependent ejaculate strategies in any species.

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“…This might also hold true within a season if older males exhaust their energy stores and cease to compete effectively before the end of the period of female receptivity. However, although malemale competition is known to influence male RE in a range of taxa (e.g., Neff et al 2004;Galimberti et al 2007), there is currently little evidence for its influence on the timing of male RE across the breeding season. Indeed, in some species there is no support for an effect of experience on reproductive timing (Ridgway et al 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intraseasonal Variation in Reproductive Effort: Young Males Finish Last

Mason

Stephens

Willis

et al. 2012

The American Naturalist

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Age-dependent reproductive timing has been observed in females of a number of species; older females often breed earlier in the season and experience higher reproductive success as a result. However, to date, evidence for within-season variation in reproductive effort (RE) for males has been relatively weak. Males are expected to time RE in light of intraseasonal variations in the availability of receptive females and competition with other males. Young males, which are typically smaller and less experienced, might benefit from breeding later in the season, when male-male competition is less intense. Using a long-term data set of Alpine chamois Rupicapra rupicapra, we sought to evaluate the hypothesis that younger males allocate highest RE late in the breeding season, at a time when older male RE has decreased substantially. Our results support this hypothesis, which suggests that intraseasonal variation in RE may be an adaptive life-history trait for males as well as females.

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The cost of success: reproductive effort in male southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina)

Cited by 48 publications

References 87 publications

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

The High Price of Success: Costs of Mating Effort in Male Primates

Size dependence in non-sperm ejaculate production is reflected in daily energy expenditure and resting metabolic rate

Intraseasonal Variation in Reproductive Effort: Young Males Finish Last

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