Evidence of obligate female promiscuity in a socially monogamous passerine

Fossøy, Frode; Johnsen, Arild; Lifjeld, Jan T.

doi:10.1007/s00265-006-0163-7

Cited by 33 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…There is a possible discrepancy when researchers quantify the proportion of EPY to test hypotheses that, ultimately, concern the distribution of EPCs (Dunn and Lifjeld 1994;Brommer et al 2007;Griffith 2007). The extent of this discrepancy is currently unknown, but experimental studies suggest that the occurrence of EPCs in nature may be far greater than the observed frequency of EPY implies (Hunter et al 1992;Michl et al 2002;Fossøy et al 2006). Brommer et al (2007) introduced a statistical modeling approach that recognizes that both the distribution of EPCs and the success rate of EPF (conditional on an EPC) may differ across species or populations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passerine Extrapair Mating Dynamics: A Bayesian Modeling Approach Comparing Four Species

Brommer¹,

Alho²,

Biard³

et al. 2010

The American Naturalist

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In many socially monogamous animals, females engage in extrapair copulation (EPC), causing some broods to contain both within-pair and extrapair young (EPY). The proportion of all young that are EPY varies across populations and species. Because an EPC that does not result in EPY leaves no forensic trace, this variation in the proportion of EPY reflects both variation in the tendency to engage in EPC and variation in the extrapair fertilization (EPF) process across populations and species. We analyzed data on the distribution of EPY in broods of four passerines (blue tit, great tit, collared flycatcher, and pied flycatcher), with 18,564 genotyped nestlings from 2,346 broods in two to nine populations per species. Our Bayesian modeling approach estimated the underlying probability function of EPC (assumed to be a Poisson function) and conditional binomial EPF probability. We used an information theoretical approach to show that the expected distribution of EPC per female varies across populations but that EPF probabilities vary on the above-species level (tits vs. flycatchers). Hence, for these four passerines, our model suggests that the probability of an EPC mainly is determined by ecological (population-specific) conditions, whereas EPF probabilities reflect processes that are fixed above the species level.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Passerine Extrapair Mating Dynamics: A Bayesian Modeling Approach Comparing Four Species

Brommer¹,

Alho²,

Biard³

et al. 2010

The American Naturalist

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“…Males with large rusty signals of parental care in areas with less rusty neighbors were unlikely to suffer losses in paternity, while darker crowned, more aggressive males in areas with less aggressive, rustier males were likely to suffer such losses unless they also possessed a relatively large cap. If males controlled EPCs and the resulting EPFs (the two are not necessarily tightly linked: Fossoy et al 2006), we would expect that small, not large, forehead patches would predict extrapair mating by the female.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This lends credence to the proposition that relative male quality, determined by female choice, is the best proximate explanation for extrapair fertilizations. Alternatively, EPCs and EPFs may be disconnected (Fossoy et al 2006) such that males control EPCs, but females exhibit cryptic mate choice with ultimate physiological control over EPFs (Ball and Parker 2003;Fossoy et al 2008). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extrapair paternity in the swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana: male access or female preference?

Olsen

Greenberg

Fleischer

et al. 2008

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Over the past two decades, the combination of molecular and field methods has revealed considerable variation in the level of extrapair fertilizations among socially monogamous birds. Models predicting extrapair young range in scale from a single population to multiple Orders, and there is no single, unifying theory for these reproductive tactics. We investigated proximate explanations of extrapair fertilizations in two subspecies of the swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana georgiana and Melospiza georgiana nigrescens, across a range of social and environmental conditions. The presence of extrapair young was best predicted by the size of two male plumage badges (one correlated with parental care and one with territorial aggression) relative to the badge size of their immediate neighbors, the interaction of these two measures, mean territory size, and the maximum size of the aggression badge among neighbors. The size of the male's parental care badge (relative to neighbors) was negatively correlated with the probability of lost paternity. The relative size of the aggression badge was positively correlated with the presence of extrapair young when the parental care badge was small and negatively correlated when the badge was large. Controlling for these crown measures, males with larger territories were less likely to suffer losses in paternity. There was no effect of breeding density, breeding synchrony, their interaction, subspecies, or weather during the fertile period on the presence of extrapair young. These results suggest that female preference for males that provide more parental care (or preference for genes that convey this trait) plays a dominant role in extrapair interactions among swamp sparrows. Models based on female assessments of relative mate quality offer a promising explanation of patterns in extrapair fertilizations among bird species.

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“…This postinsemination phenomenon is referred to as cryptic female choice (Eberhard, 1996). For example, Fossoy et al (2006) observed that female birds engaged in extrapair copulations did not necessarily have extrapair offspring. Fossoy et al (2006) cited several possible explanations for the absence of offspring derived from extrapair mating including female cryptic choice as a source postcopulatory bias in paternity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Fossoy et al (2006) observed that female birds engaged in extrapair copulations did not necessarily have extrapair offspring. Fossoy et al (2006) cited several possible explanations for the absence of offspring derived from extrapair mating including female cryptic choice as a source postcopulatory bias in paternity. More in line with the thinking of poultry biologists, Denk et al (2005) downplayed sperm genotype as a selective factor driving cryptic choice of the female and suggested that superior sperm motility was the primary criteria predicting paternity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Serotonin Localization in the Turkey Vaginal but not Sperm Storage Tubule Epithelia

Bakst

Akuffo

2008

Poultry Science

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Elucidating the cellular and molecular mechanisms regulating sperm selection and transport in the vagina of the hen had been the focus of a limited amount of research over the past decade. New observations indicate the presence of nonneuron endocrine cells in the epithelia lining the lumina of the turkey hen vagina and uterovaginal junction. Although no cells in the vagina or uterovaginal junction surface epithelia exhibited argentaffin staining, typical of cells containing neurosecretory

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Evidence of obligate female promiscuity in a socially monogamous passerine

Cited by 33 publications

References 37 publications

Passerine Extrapair Mating Dynamics: A Bayesian Modeling Approach Comparing Four Species

Passerine Extrapair Mating Dynamics: A Bayesian Modeling Approach Comparing Four Species

Extrapair paternity in the swamp sparrow, Melospiza georgiana: male access or female preference?

Serotonin Localization in the Turkey Vaginal but not Sperm Storage Tubule Epithelia

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