The Relationship of in Vivo Sperm Storage Interval to Fertility and Embryonic Survival in the Chicken1

Lodge, J. R.; Fechheimer, N. S.; Jaap, R. George

doi:10.1093/biolreprod/5.3.252

Cited by 70 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…However, maternal investment can vary under expected sperm limitation. The results by Lo¨pez-Leo¨n et al (1994) in another species indicate that females tend to preferably fertilize the ¢rst and last egg pods and Bella et al (1992) state that, in C. parallelus, the ¢rst egg pod is frequently small and shows poor survival. Yet, we could not ¢nd di¡erential maternal investment, measured as hatchling dry weight, with regard to season, female age and sperm age.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…We quanti¢ed the decline in the number of spermatozoa in the genital tract of female C. parallelus and conclude that passive sperm loss takes place in that species. Long-term sperm storage by females is known in several grasshopper species from casual reports (Norris 1954;Pickford & Gillott 1971;Whitman 1986) as well as qualitative data (Lo¨pez-Leo¨n et al 1994;Reinhardt & Jentzsch 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, when investigating the e¡ect of sperm age on ¢tness, two e¡ects often overlap that cannot be easily separated: a variation in fertilization success due to a decrease in sperm quality or due to female factors. The latter can include a seasonal variation in fertilization success (Lo¨pez-Leo¨n et al 1994) or senescence e¡ects in fertilization ability as suggested by K. Reinhardt and J. Meister (unpublished data). We investigated the e¡ects that the use of stored and thus aged sperm has on female ¢tness in the grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus (Zett.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Females of the grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus (Zett.) do not remate for fresh sperm

Reinhardt

Köhler

Schumacher

1999

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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The evolution of female multiple mating is still a largely debated ¢eld. Among the bene¢ts that have been proposed to explain this risky behaviour is the replenishment of sperm reserves. Apart from an increase in total sperm number, it can be an expression of post-copulatory mate choice or can be directed towards the uptake of fresh sperm. Using fresh sperm for fertilization instead of sperm aged by storage in the female genital tract may avoid a lowered fertilization capacity, an increase in deleterious e¡ects or a skewed o¡spring sex ratio. We investigated the in£uence of sperm age on female ¢tness in the grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus, a species where females mate multiply. After copulation, females store sperm over the course of weeks until fertilization. An average ejaculate of 250 000 spermatozoa exponentially declined with time within the female's spermatheca. The number of days since copulation better explained the variation in actual sperm number than the number of pods or eggs laid. We investigated di¡erences in female ¢tness parameters in two treatments. In the ¢rst, females were mated only once, while in the second, females always had freshly ejaculated sperm available. Although in our experiment, multiply mated females had heavier o¡spring than singly mated females, egg number per pod, hatching and fertilization success, their composite e¡ects and o¡spring sex ratio did not vary with respect to season or sperm age. We therefore reject the hypothesis that the reason for remating in females of this species is the uptake of fresh sperm.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Females of the grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus (Zett.) do not remate for fresh sperm

Reinhardt

Köhler

Schumacher

1999

Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B

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“…This effect has been suggested by a number of studies (see ref. 3 for review), including in poultry (6,7). Those studies did not, however, account for sperm numbers and thus were unable to separate effects of reduced sperm numbers and sperm aging.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For utilitarian reasons, the link between sperm aging and reproductive failure has mostly been studied in domestic livestock (4) and medicine (5). Early experimental studies in poultry show that embryo mortality increases with sperm age (6), with older sperm causing earlier developmental arrest (7). Additionally, Dharmarajan (8) showed that sperm aging is associated with slower embryonic development.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple deleterious effects of experimentally aged sperm in a monogamous bird

White

Wagner

Helfenstein³

et al. 2008

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

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Sperm aging is known to be detrimental to reproductive performance. However, this apparently general phenomenon has seldom been studied in an evolutionary context. The negative impact of sperm aging on parental fitness should constitute a strong selective pressure for adaptations to avoid its effects. We studied the impact of sperm aging on black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), a monogamous seabird. Kittiwakes comprise a model system because (i) of evidence that females eject their mates' sperm to prevent fertilization by sperm that would be old and degraded by the time of fertilization and result in reduced reproductive performance and (ii) the lack of extra-pair fertilization in this species makes cryptic female choice an unlikely explanation of postcopulatory sperm ejection by females. We experimentally manipulated the age of the sperm fertilizing kittiwake eggs by fitting males with anti-insemination rings for variable periods of time preceding egg-laying. We found evidence that sperm aging negatively affected four sequential stages of reproduction: fertilization potential, rate of embryonic development, embryonic mortality, and chick condition at hatching. These results may be produced by a continuum of a single process of sperm aging that differentially affects various aspects of development, depending on the degree of damage incurred to the spermatozoa. The marked impact of sperm age on female fitness may thus drive postcopulatory sperm ejection by females. These results provide experimental evidence of deleterious effects of sperm aging on a nondomestic vertebrate, underlining its taxonomic generality and its potential to select for a wide array of adaptations. egg development ͉ fertility ͉ reproduction ͉ sperm competition ͉ sperm senescence

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Multiple mating and cooperative breeding in polygynandrous alpine accentors. II. Male mating tactics

Nakamura

1998

Animal Behaviour

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The Relationship of in Vivo Sperm Storage Interval to Fertility and Embryonic Survival in the Chicken1

Cited by 70 publications

References 5 publications

Females of the grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus (Zett.) do not remate for fresh sperm

Females of the grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus (Zett.) do not remate for fresh sperm

Multiple deleterious effects of experimentally aged sperm in a monogamous bird

Multiple mating and cooperative breeding in polygynandrous alpine accentors. II. Male mating tactics

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