Extrapair paternity and the opportunity for sexual selection in long-distant migratory passerines

Albrecht, Tomáš; Schnitzer, Jan E.; Kreisinger, Jakub; Exnerová, Alice; Bryja, Josef; Munclinger, Pavel

doi:10.1093/beheco/arm001

Cited by 80 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…Mean mating success was positively correlated with male length in both populations, although the directional selection gradients were not presented 16. Albrecht et al (2007) No N ⁄ A 17. Twiss et al (2007) No N ⁄ A 18.…”

Section: What Now?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The mismeasurement of sexual selection

Klug

Heuschele

Jennions

et al. 2010

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

190

306

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Sexual selection can explain major micro‐ and macro‐evolutionary patterns. Much of current theory predicts that the strength of sexual selection (i) is driven by the relative abundance of males and females prepared to mate (i.e. the operational sex ratio, OSR) and (ii) can be generally estimated by calculating intra‐sexual variation in mating success (e.g. the opportunity for sexual selection, Is). Here, we demonstrate the problematic nature of these predictions. The OSR and Is only accurately predict sexual selection under a limited set of circumstances, and more specifically, only when mate monopolization is extremely strong. If mate monopolization is not strong, using OSR or Is as proxies or measures of sexual selection is expected to produce spurious results that lead to the false conclusion that sexual selection is strong when it is actually weak. These findings call into question the validity of empirical conclusions based on these measures of sexual selection.

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Section: What Now?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The mismeasurement of sexual selection

Klug

Heuschele

Jennions

et al. 2010

Journal of Evolutionary Biology

190

306

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“…Alleles that enhance promiscuous behavior in males are likely to be under strong positive selection (9), and those sexually selected alleles could also cause promiscuous behavior in females (because of pleiotropic effects). This hypothesis assumes promiscuous behavior to be heritable (10,11) and to be positively genetically correlated between the sexes.…”

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confidence: 99%

Female extrapair mating behavior can evolve via indirect selection on males

Forstmeier

Martin

Bolund

et al. 2011

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

187

194

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In many species that form socially monogamous pair bonds, a considerable proportion of the offspring is sired by extrapair males. This observation has remained a puzzle for evolutionary biologists: although mating outside the pair bond can obviously increase the offspring production of males, the benefits of such behavior to females are less clear, yet females are known to actively solicit extrapair copulations. For more than two decades adaptionist explanations have dominated the discussions, yet remain controversial, and genetic constraint arguments have been dismissed without much consideration. An intriguing but still untested hypothesis states that extrapair mating behavior by females may be affected by the same genetic variants (alleles) as extrapair mating behavior by males, such that the female behavior could evolve through indirect selection on the male behavior. Here we show that in the socially monogamous zebra finch, individual differences in extrapair mating behavior have a hereditary component. Intriguingly, this genetic basis is shared between the sexes, as shown by a strong genetic correlation between male and female measurements of extrapair mating behavior. Hence, positive selection on males to sire extrapair young will lead to increased extrapair mating by females as a correlated evolutionary response. This behavior leads to a fundamentally different view of female extrapair mating: it may exist even if females obtain no net benefit from it, simply because the corresponding alleles were positively selected in the male ancestors.

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“…Given the widespread interest in sexual selection in birds, it is somewhat surprising that direct measures of I s are relatively uncommon compared to the growing number of species for which molecular parentage data are known (for reviews see Woolfenden et al 2002, Freeman-Gallant et al 2005, Hauber and Lacey 2005, Whittingham and Dunn 2005, Albrecht et al 2007). Existing studies have typically focused on pair-bonded passerines, frequently with the purpose of exploring the relative importance of extra-pair and within-pair offspring in determining the variance in male reproductive success (Webster et al 1995(Webster et al , 2007.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%