Contrasting associations between breeding coloration and parasitism of male Arctic charr relate to parasite species and life cycle stage

Johansen, Ida Beitnes; Henriksen, Eirik Haugstvedt; Shaw, Jenny C.; Mayer, Ian; Amundsen, Per‐Arne; Øverli, Øyvind

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-47083-x

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…they had increased rates of lymphocytes and of thrombocytes, two potential indicators of acute infections or other physiological stress (Haenen et al 2010;Rose et al 2012) (Yan et al 2013), than yellower males. Male yellowness was hence a useful predictor of current male health condition, potentially revealing, for example, virulence of a tapeworm infection (Johansen et al 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sperm of more colorful males are better adapted to ovarian fluids in lake char (Salmonidae)

Nusbaumer

Garaud

Guttry

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Fish often spawn eggs with ovarian fluids that have been hypothesized to support sperm of some males over others (cryptic female choice). Alternatively, sperm reactions to ovarian fluids could reveal male strategies linked to their likely roles during spawning. Sperm of males who would usually be close to females during spawning are then expected to be better adapted to the presence of ovarian fluids than to water only, while the reverse would be expected for males that typically spawn at larger distance to the females. We tested these predictions with gametes and ovarian fluids from wild-caught lake char (Salvelinus umbla). We found that sperm of more colorful males showed increased sperm velocity in diluted ovarian fluids while sperm of paler males were fastest in water only. We then let equal numbers of sperm compete for fertilizations in the presence or absence of ovarian fluids and used microsatellite markers to assign in total 1,464 embryos (from 70 experimental trials) to their fathers. Overall, sperm of more colorful males reached higher fertilization success than sperm of pale males. This difference was enhanced by the presence of ovarian fluids and best explained by the increased sperm velocity. Sperm competitiveness was not enhanced with decreasing male inbreeding coefficients or decreasing genetic distance to a given female, although parallel stress tests on embryos revealed that females would profit more from mating with least related males rather than most colored ones. We conclude that sperm of more colorful males are best adapted to ovarian fluids, and that the observed reaction norms reveal male strategies rather than cryptic female choice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2013), than yellower males. Male yellowness was hence a useful predictor of current male health condition, potentially revealing, for example, virulence of a tapeworm infection (Johansen et al . 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sperm of more colorful males are better adapted to ovarian fluids in lake char (Salmonidae)

Nusbaumer

Garaud

Guttry

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…S1). In wild Arctic char, coloration tends to increase with body length [39,40], and redder males have been observed to show higher plasma testosterone levels [40], suffer less from infections [40], and show lower lymphocyte counts [41] (but the link between coloration and stress indicators can be broken up in captivity [38,42]). Wild lake char show similar patterns: more brightly colored males are typically larger and suffer less from relative lymphocytosis and thrombocytosis, two indicators of acute infections and hence of current health and vigor, than pale males [43].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic compatibility exceeds possible ‘good genes’ effects of sexual selection in lake char

Garaud

Nusbaumer

Guttry

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Mating is rarely random in nature, but the effects of mate selection on offspring performance are still poorly understood, even in well-established models such as salmonid fish. We sampled wild lake char (Salvelinus umbla) and used their gametes to investigate the genetic consequences of different mating scenarios. In a first study, we used full-factorial breeding to experimentally separate additive genetic from maternal environmental effects. This led to 60 families and in total 1,073 embryos that were raised singly after sublethal exposures to the pathogen Aeromonas salmonicida, the common pollutant ethinylestradiol, or water only. Contrary to predictions of ‘good genes’ sexual selection, offspring of more yellow males were less tolerant to the pathogen than offspring of pale males, while male coloration did not predict offspring tolerance to ethinylestradiol. However, increased kinship between the parents had strong negative effects on embryo development in all treatment groups. In a second experiment, we monitored 1,464 singly-raised embryos that resulted from 70 pair-wise sperm competition trials. These embryos were raised in an environment that supports the growth of symbiotic microbes (sublethal stress) or in a clean environment. Offspring of yellow males were again less stress tolerant than those of pale males, and embryo development was again slowed down with increasing genetic similarity between the parents. We conclude that genetic benefits of mate selection would be strongest if females avoided genetic similarity during mate selection, for example based on MHC-linked signals, while male breeding colors seem more relevant in intra-sexual selection.

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“…In many of the above examples on Arctic charr, male quality is also linked with dominance or brightness of their breeding coloration (see also Skarstein and Folstad ( 1996 ); Johansen et al. ( 2019 )). Although we did not score such variables, their possible connection with parasite resistance in parents and offspring in this system warrants interesting further investigations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in parasite resistance of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, between and within sympatric morphs

Karvonen

Beck

Skúlason

et al. 2021

Ecology and Evolution

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Genetic variation in resistance against parasite infections is a predominant feature in host–parasite systems. However, mechanisms maintaining genetic polymorphism in resistance in natural host populations are generally poorly known. We explored whether differences in natural infection pressure between resource‐based morphs of Arctic charr (Salvelinus alpinus) have resulted in differentiation in resistance profiles. We experimentally exposed offspring of two morphs from Lake Þingvallavatn (Iceland), the pelagic planktivorous charr (“murta”) and the large benthivorous charr (“kuðungableikja”), to their common parasite, eye fluke Diplostomum baeri, infecting the eye humor. We found that there were no differences in resistance between the morphs, but clear differences among families within each morph. Moreover, we found suggestive evidence of resistance of offspring within families being positively correlated with the parasite load of the father, but not with that of the mother. Our results suggest that the inherited basis of parasite resistance in this system is likely to be related to variation among host individuals within each morph rather than ecological factors driving divergent resistance profiles at morph level. Overall, this may have implications for evolution of resistance through processes such as sexual selection.

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Contrasting associations between breeding coloration and parasitism of male Arctic charr relate to parasite species and life cycle stage

Cited by 14 publications

References 45 publications

Sperm of more colorful males are better adapted to ovarian fluids in lake char (Salmonidae)

Sperm of more colorful males are better adapted to ovarian fluids in lake char (Salmonidae)

Genetic compatibility exceeds possible ‘good genes’ effects of sexual selection in lake char

Variation in parasite resistance of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, between and within sympatric morphs

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