Flexible timing of reproductive effort as an alternative mating tactic in black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) males

Nieminen, Eini; Kervinen, Matti; Lebigre, Christophe; Soulsbury, Carl D.

doi:10.1163/1568539x-00003374

Cited by 5 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 48 publications

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“…Males can adjust their reproductive investment even more dynamically, not only across but within a breeding season, in response to any number of short-or long-term factors [e.g. number of competitors (Shine et al, 2003;Nieminen et al, 2016) or age and condition (Mysterud et al, 2008)]. Such flexibility and a greater diversity of potential mating strategies is probably one reason why the study of capital-income breeding in males has been generally neglected, despite such a concept being equally applicable to males and females.…”

Section: Capital and Income Breeding In Malesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income and capital breeding in males: energetic and physiological limitations on male mating strategies

Soulsbury

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Income and capital breeding describe two dichotomous breeding strategies that characterise the allocation of resources to reproduction. Capital breeders utilise stored endogenous resources (typically lipids) to finance reproduction, whereas income breeders use exogenous resources (typically carbohydrates). The basis for such characterisation has mainly come from studying females, yet for many species, male and female reproductive success may be determined by substantially different factors. Females allocate resources to offspring production, whereas males typically allocate resources to accessing mating opportunities, e.g. from contests or displays. The primary metabolic fuel (lipids or carbohydrates) in males appears to be dependent on the type of activity being performed (i.e. high versus low intensity or long versus short duration), rather than capital or income breeding strategy per se. Males performing sustained, long-duration effort typically utilise lipids, whereas those undergoing intense activity more often utilise carbohydrates. As a result, either fuel type can be used in either strategy. Breeding season duration can constrain strategy choice; lipids and carbohydrates can be used in short breeding season species, but only lipids provide a viable fuel source for long breeding season capital breeders. Both capital-and income-breeding males must manage their resource use during the breeding season, but capital breeders must also cope with physiological stressors associated with extended fasting. Overall, the capital-income breeding concept applies equally to male reproduction, but compared with females, there are different physical and physiological constraints that shape choice of strategy. This Commentary also highlights some key future areas that need to be investigated to further understand how capital-income breeding strategies shape male mating strategies.

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Section: Capital and Income Breeding In Malesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Income and capital breeding in males: energetic and physiological limitations on male mating strategies

Soulsbury

2019

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Male black grouse are under strong sexual selection, with females using multiple condition-dependent ornaments (tail (lyre) length, blue structural colouration of feathers, red eye comb size) and behaviours (fighting, lek attendance, distance from lek centre) to select males (Alatalo et al 1991 ; Hovi et al 1994 ; Höglund et al 1997 ; Rintamäki et al 2001 ; Hämäläinen et al 2012 ; Kervinen et al 2016 ). Lekking is energetically demanding (Vehrencamp et al 1989 ), with males losing considerable body mass during the breeding season (Lebigre et al 2013 ) through their investment in lekking activity (Nieminen et al 2016 ). Hence, it might be predicted that the energetic demands of a too-high immune response are costly for males, whereas a too-low response may make males vulnerable to parasites, also diminishing male performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stabilising selection on immune response in male black grouse Lyrurus tetrix

2017

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Illnesses caused by a variety of micro- and macro- organisms can negatively affect individuals’ fitness, leading to the expectation that immunity is under positive selection. However, immune responses are costly and individuals must trade-off their immune response with other fitness components (e.g. survival or reproductive success) meaning that individuals with intermediate response may have the greatest overall fitness. Such a process might be particularly acute in species with strong sexual selection because the condition-dependence of male secondary sexual-traits might lead to striking phenotypic differences amongst males of different immune response levels. We tested whether there is selection on immune response by survival and reproduction in yearling and adult male black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) following an immune challenge with a novel antigen and tested the hypothesis that sexual signals and body mass are honest signals of the immune response. We show that yearling males with highest immune response to these challenges had higher survival, but the reverse was true for adults. Adults with higher responses had highest mass loss and adult males with intermediate immune response had highest mating success. Tail length was related to baseline response in adults and more weakly in yearlings. Our findings reveal the complex fitness consequences of mounting an immune response across age classes. Such major differences in the direction and magnitude of selection in multiple fitness components is an alternative route underpinning the stabilising selection of immune responses with an intermediate immune response being optimal.

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“…Some individuals may start switching to self-maintenance behaviors, reducing overall investment in intra-sexual competition towards the end of the rut (Pitcher et al, 2014; Vannoni & McElligott, 2009; Wyman et al, 2021). By contrast, lower-ranked males are involved in more than one fight less often during the rut, and some of them may increase their effort later in the mating season (Mason et al, 2012; Nieminen et al, 2016). This suggests that lower-ranked males successfully use alternative mating tactics in scenarios when fewer higher-ranked males are preoccupied in further disputing dominance relationships.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delayed benefits for fallow bucks: more fights decrease same day mating success, but may increase matings the next day

Bateman-Neubert

Briefer

McElligott

2022

Preprint

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Dominance hierarchies help to reduce unnecessary fights and associated costs during the mating season. Fallow deer (Dama dama) typically have high levels of male-male competition and strong reproductive skew. Nevertheless, how male dominance and daily fight rates affect mating success remains unknown. We used a two-year dataset from a large population of tagged fallow deer (620-689 individuals), to calculate male dominance ranks based on their agonistic interactions prior to the mating season (‘prerut’), in order to then examine how rank is related to fight rates and mating success during the mating season (‘rut’). Overall, higher-ranked males fought at least twice a day on a higher proportion of days during the rut and secured more matings. Males engaging in more than 10 fights per day were less likely to secure a mating that same day, and those males exceeding 15 fights per day secured no matings at all. Nevertheless, males with the highest numbers of fights (i.e. 15-21 fights per day) on a given day had higher mating success on subsequent days. Although higher-ranked males secured most matings during the rut, their fight rates decreased towards the end. We propose that engaging in more fights negatively affects daily individual mating success, but may benefit mating success on subsequent days, and potentially increase long-term fitness benefits. Additionally, engaging in more fights as the rut progresses probably allows lower-ranked males to secure some matings before the availability of oestrous females ends for almost a year.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTFighting carries a risk of injury and high energetic costs. Male fallow deer establish dominance hierarchies, that help reduce unnecessary fights among individuals of different competitive abilities. However, whether high-ranked males fight more or less is yet unknown. By calculating social ranks of fallow bucks before the start of their mating period, we show that males of higher social status do fight and mate more during the mating season (rut). Furthermore, by investigating how investment in fights affects individual mating success that same day and the next day, we find that males that fight more cause a decrease in their immediate daily mating success, but can potentially increase their chances of mating in subsequent days. Thus, to fight more may allow males to climb the hierarchical social ladder, hence increasing longer-term fitness benefits associated to higher ranks.

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Flexible timing of reproductive effort as an alternative mating tactic in black grouse (Lyrurus tetrix) males

Abstract: Lyrurus tetrix lek behaviours, we tested whether there were fine-scale differences in 21 reproductive effort (lek attendance, fighting rates) and whether these were related to age

Cited by 5 publications

References 48 publications

Income and capital breeding in males: energetic and physiological limitations on male mating strategies

Income and capital breeding in males: energetic and physiological limitations on male mating strategies

Stabilising selection on immune response in male black grouse Lyrurus tetrix

Delayed benefits for fallow bucks: more fights decrease same day mating success, but may increase matings the next day

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