Determinants of mating success in male adders, Vipera berus

Madsen, Thomas; Shine, Richard; Loman, Jon; Håkansson, Thomas

doi:10.1006/anbe.1993.1060

Cited by 157 publications

(83 citation statements)

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“…Because they stop feeding during the mating season (Saint Girons, 1996;Vacher-Vallas, 1997), they also show a strong decrease in body mass. Thus, body reserves are necessary to fuel the reproductive behaviors of male vipers (Vacher-Vallas, 1997), as has been documented in a closely related species, the adder Madsen, Shine, Loman, and Håkansson, 1993).…”

Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Fat Is Sexy for Females but Not Males: The Influence of Body Reserves on Reproduction in Snakes (Vipera aspis)

Aubret

Bonnet

Shine

et al. 2002

Hormones and Behavior

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Reproduction is energetically expensive for both sexes, but the magnitude of expenditure and its relationship to reproductive success differ fundamentally between males and females. Males allocate relatively little to gamete production and, thus, can reproduce successfully with only minor energy investment. In contrast, females of many species experience high fecundity-independent costs of reproduction (such as migration to nesting sites), so they need to amass substantial energy reserves before initiating reproductive activity. Thus, we expect that the relationship between energy reserves and the intensity of reproductive behavior involves a threshold effect in females, but a gradual (or no) effect in males. We tested this prediction using captive vipers (Vipera aspis), dividing both males and females into groups of high versus low body condition. Snakes from each group were placed together and observed for reproductive behavior; sex-steroid levels were also measured. As predicted, females in below-average body condition had very low estradiol levels and did not show sexual receptivity, whereas males of all body condition indices had significant testosterone levels and displayed active courtship. Testosterone levels and courtship intensity increased gradually (i.e., no step function) with body condition in males, but high estradiol levels and sexual receptivity were seen only in females with body reserves above a critical threshold. The energetics of reproduction has been a central theme in the ecological study of life history variation (Hirshfield and Tinkle, 1975;Morris, 1987Morris, , 1992Winkler and Wallin, 1987;Stearns, 1992; Monaghan and Nager, 1997), and more recently this topic has become an important focus in behavioral endocrinology (Cherel, Mauget, Lacroix, and Gilles, 1994;Bronson, 1998). It is obvious that organisms cannot reproduce in the total absence of energy reserves (Frish, 1978;Frish and McArthur, 1974), but the relationship between the amount of energy reserves and reproductive output (or effort) is complex and varies among species. In some species there is a linear relationship between energy reserves and reproductive output. In others there appears to be no discernible relationship (e.g., if clutch and offspring sizes are fixed) or a complex nonlinear relationship between the two variables. For example, many organisms are "capital breeders" that rely on previously gathered energy stored in the form of body reserves (i.e., fat bodies, proteins) rather than on current energy intake to fuel the energetically costly process of reproduction (Drent and Daan, 1980;Jö nsson, 1997; Bonnet, Bradshaw, and Shine, 1998). In such species, life history theory predicts that a threshold level of energy reserves is necessary for a reproductive cycle to begin, rather than a linear relationship in which an increment in energy availability adds an increment in reproductive output (Schaffer, 1974;Bull and Shine, 1979;Stearns, 1992). Several empirical studies provide evidence for nonlinear relationships between...

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Section: Study Speciesmentioning

confidence: 97%

Fat Is Sexy for Females but Not Males: The Influence of Body Reserves on Reproduction in Snakes (Vipera aspis)

Aubret

Bonnet

Shine

et al. 2002

Hormones and Behavior

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“…Male-male competition takes many forms, although previous research has focused mainly on aggressive interactions among males (LeBoeuf 1974;Eberhard 1979;Watson 1990;Madsen et al 1993). However, males also compete via sperm competition, which occurs when the sperm from multiple males compete within the female for a limited number of egg fertilizations (Parker 1970a;Smith 1984).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relative roles of predation and sperm competition on the duration of the post-copulatory association between the sexes in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus

Jivoff

1997

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

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“…Detailed data on survival rates, growth rates, and reproductive success relative to body size are available for a population of adders in extreme southern Sweden, at Smygehuk (55°20'N, 13°22'E).The habitat and methodology have been described elsewhere (Madsen 1988;Madsen and Shine 1992a,b,c, 1993a,b,c, 1994Madsen et al 1992Madsen et al , 1993. Since 1981, one of us (T.M.)…”

Section: Methods Ofthe Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In every year since 1984, reproductive behavior has been observed for every day of the mating season, providing comprehensive information on the success rates of individual males in combat bouts and in mating. Observations on location and behavior of the snakes during the mating season are facilitated by force-feeding miniature radio-transmitters to all reproductive females; most social behavior (including male-male combat) occurs less than 2 m from females (Madsen 1988;Madsen et al 1993). Gravid females are collected one to two weeks prior to parturition in late summer and are maintained in the laboratory until they give birth.…”

Section: Methods Ofthe Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Smygehuk adders are unusually well suited to detailed behavioral study (Madsen et al 1993), so each year we can monitor virtually all adult adders in the study area (which measures 1 km by 20 to 200 m). For example, we have no records of a male reproductive in one year, not recorded the next year, and then reappearing the following year (as would be expected if we occasionally failed to record some males).…”

Section: Methods Ofthe Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Costs of Reproduction Influence the Evolution of Sexual Size Dimorphism in Snakes

Madsen

Shine

1994

Evolution

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Determinants of mating success in male adders, Vipera berus

Cited by 157 publications

References 0 publications

Fat Is Sexy for Females but Not Males: The Influence of Body Reserves on Reproduction in Snakes (Vipera aspis)

Fat Is Sexy for Females but Not Males: The Influence of Body Reserves on Reproduction in Snakes (Vipera aspis)

The relative roles of predation and sperm competition on the duration of the post-copulatory association between the sexes in the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus

Costs of Reproduction Influence the Evolution of Sexual Size Dimorphism in Snakes

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