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Krietsch J, Valcu M, Cragnolini M, Forstmeier W, Kempenaers B. Mutual mate guarding with limited sexual conflict in a sex-role-reversed shorebird. Behav Ecol 2024; 35:arad084. [PMID: 38193015 PMCID: PMC10773304 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arad084] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 09/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/10/2024] Open
Abstract
Mate guarding is typically considered a male strategy to protect paternity. However, under some circumstances, females might also benefit from guarding their mate. Female mate guarding might be particularly important in socially polyandrous species in which females compete for access to care-giving males. Because males also benefit from being near their partner to avoid paternity loss, pair members may have a mutual interest in mate guarding in polyandrous species. We studied the time spent together and movements that lead to separation, as behavioral measures of mate guarding, in the classically polyandrous red phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius). We equipped 64 breeding pairs with miniaturized telemetry loggers with GPS to assess variation in mate-guarding intensity in relation to breeding phenology and season, nest attendance, and the occurrence of extrapair paternity. We show that red phalarope pairs were almost continuously together in the days before clutch initiation with no sex bias in separation movements, indicating mutual contribution to mate guarding. Our results suggest that in red phalaropes, both pair members guard their mate, with limited sexual conflict arising through biases in the operational sex ratio and a trade-off with male nest attendance. We found no clear relationship between mate-guarding intensity and the occurrence of extrapair paternity. In this non-territorial socially polyandrous species, mutual mate guarding might be the process underlying the evolution of a brief but strong social pair bond, with no other purpose than producing a clutch for a care-giving male.
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Affiliation(s)
- Johannes Krietsch
- Department of Ornithology, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Eberhard Gwinner Str., 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Mihai Valcu
- Department of Ornithology, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Eberhard Gwinner Str., 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Margherita Cragnolini
- Department of Ornithology, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Eberhard Gwinner Str., 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Forstmeier
- Department of Ornithology, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Eberhard Gwinner Str., 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Bart Kempenaers
- Department of Ornithology, Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, Eberhard Gwinner Str., 82319 Seewiesen, Germany
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Valcu M, Valcu C, Kempenaers B. Extra‐pair paternity and sexual dimorphism in birds. J Evol Biol 2023; 36:764-779. [PMID: 36971464 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/29/2023]
Abstract
Differences in the strength of sexual selection between males and females can lead to sexual dimorphism. Extra-pair paternity (EPP) can increase the variance in male reproductive success and hence the opportunity for sexual selection. Previous research on birds suggests that EPP drives the evolution of dimorphism in plumage colour and in body size. Because EPP increases the intensity of sexual selection in males, it should lead to increased dimorphism in species with larger or more colourful males, but decreased dimorphism in species with larger or more colourful females. We explored the covariation between EPP and sexual dimorphism in wing length and plumage colouration in 401 bird species, while controlling for other, potentially confounding variables. Wing length dimorphism was associated positively with the frequency of EPP, but also with social polygamy, sex bias in parental behaviour and body size and negatively with migration distance. The frequency of EPP was the only predictor of plumage colour dimorphism. In support of our prediction, high EPP levels were associated with sexual dichromatism, positively in species in which males are more colourful and negatively in those in which females are more colourful. Contrary to our prediction, high EPP rates were associated with increased wing length dimorphism in species with both male- and female-biased dimorphism. The results support a role for EPP in the evolution of both size and plumage colour dimorphism. The two forms of dimorphism were weakly correlated and predicted by different reproductive, social and life-history traits, suggesting an independent evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mihai Valcu
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Cristina Valcu
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Bart Kempenaers
- Department of Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
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Krietsch J, Cragnolini M, Kuhn S, Lanctot RB, Saalfeld ST, Valcu M, Kempenaers B. Extrapair paternity in a sequentially polyandrous shorebird: limited evidence for the sperm storage hypothesis. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2021.10.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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Iyer P, Shukla A. Partial paternity does not always select for female-biased care. Evolution 2021; 75:2672-2684. [PMID: 34599602 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2021] [Accepted: 07/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
The theoretical literature predicts that parentage differences between the sexes, due to females mating with multiple males, select males to provide less parental care and females to care more for the offspring. We formulate simple evolutionary games to question the generality of this prediction. We find that the relationship between paternal care and fitness gained from extra-pair matings is important. A trade-off between these two quantities is required for partial paternity and complete maternity to bias the evolutionary stable strategy (ESS) toward more female care. We argue that this trade-off has been implicitly or explicitly assumed in most previous theories. However, if there is no trade-off between paternal care and extra-pair matings, parentage differences do not influence the ESS sex roles. Moreover, it is also possible for these two quantities to have a positive relationship, in which case we predict selection for male care is possible. We support these predictions using agent-based simulations. We also consider the possibility that caring males have greater opportunities to guard their paternity, and find that this mechanism can also select for male-biased care. Hence, we derive the conditions under which male care may be selected despite partial paternity and complete maternity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Priya Iyer
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Bengaluru, Karnataka, 560012, India
| | - Abhishek Shukla
- Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2R3, Canada
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Li XY, Morozov A, Goymann W. Coevolution of female fidelity and male help in populations with alternative reproductive tactics. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20202371. [PMID: 33499789 PMCID: PMC7893278 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.2371] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/04/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
In socially monogamous species, pair-bonded males often continue to provide care to all offspring in their nests despite some degree of paternity loss due to female extra-pair copulation. Previous theoretical models suggested that females can use their within-pair offspring as 'hostages' to blackmail their social mates, so that they continue to provide care to the brood at low levels of cuckoldry. These models, however, rely on the assumption of sufficiently accurate male detection of cuckoldry and the reduction of parental effort in case of suspicion. Therefore, they cannot explain the abundant cases where cuckolded males continue to provide extensive care to the brood. Here we use an analytical population genetics model and an individual-based simulation model to explore the coevolution of female fidelity and male help in populations with two genetically determined alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs): sneakers that achieve paternity solely via extra-pair copulations and bourgeois that form a mating pair and spend some efforts in brood care. We show that when the efficiency of mate guarding is intermediate, the bourgeois males can evolve to 'specialize' in providing care by spending more than 90% of time in helping their females while guarding them as much as possible, despite frequent cuckoldry by the sneakers. We also show that when sneakers have tactic-specific adaptations and thus are more competitive than the bourgeois in gaining extra-pair fertilizations, the frequency of sneakers and the degrees of female fidelity and male help can fluctuate in evolutionary cycles. Our theoretical predictions highlight the need for further empirical tests in species with ARTs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiang-Yi Li
- Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Rue Emile-Argand 11, 2000 Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Andrew Morozov
- Department of Mathematics, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
| | - Wolfgang Goymann
- Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße, 82319, Germany
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Social Systems. Anim Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-82879-0_13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Moura RR, Oliveira ID, Vasconcellos‐Neto J, Gonzaga MO. “Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise”: Indiscriminate male care in a neotropical spider. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Rafael Rios Moura
- Departamento de Ciências Biológicas Núcleo de Extensão e Pesquisa em Ecologia e Evolução (NEPEE) Universidade do Estado de Minas Gerais Ituiutaba Brazil
- Instituto de Biologia Universidade Federal de Uberlândia Uberlândia Brazil
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Safari I, Goymann W. The evolution of reversed sex roles and classical polyandry: Insights from coucals and other animals. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13095] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Ignas Safari
- Max‐Planck‐Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie Seewiesen Germany
- Coucal Project Chimala Tanzania
- Department of Biology University of Dodoma Dodoma Tanzania
| | - Wolfgang Goymann
- Max‐Planck‐Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie Seewiesen Germany
- Coucal Project Chimala Tanzania
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Safari I, Goymann W, Kokko H. Male-only care and cuckoldry in black coucals: does parenting hamper sex life? Proc Biol Sci 2020; 286:20182789. [PMID: 30966989 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.2789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Providing parental care often reduces additional mating opportunities. Paternal care becomes easier to understand if trade-offs between mating and caring remain mild. The black coucal Centropus grillii combines male-only parental care with 50% of all broods containing young sired by another male. To understand how much caring for offspring reduces a male's chance to sire additional young in other males' nests, we matched the production of extra-pair young in each nest with the periods during which potential extra-pair sires were either caring for offspring themselves or when they had no own offspring to care for. We found that males which cared for a clutch were not fully excluded from the pool of competitors for siring young in other males' nests. Instead, the relative siring success showed a temporary dip. Males were approximately 17% less likely to sire young in other males' nests while they were incubating, about 48% less likely to do so while feeding nestlings, followed by 26% when feeding fledglings, compared to the success of males that currently did not care for offspring. These results suggest that real-life care situations by males may involve trade-off structures that differ from, and are less strict than those frequently employed in theoretical considerations of operational sex ratios, sex roles and parenting decisions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignas Safari
- 1 Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie , Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße 6a, 82319 Seewiesen , Germany.,2 Coucal Project , PO Box 26, Chimala , Tanzania.,3 Department of Conservation Biology, University of Dodoma , PO Box 338, Dodoma , Tanzania
| | - Wolfgang Goymann
- 1 Max-Planck-Institut für Ornithologie, Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie , Eberhard-Gwinner-Straße 6a, 82319 Seewiesen , Germany.,2 Coucal Project , PO Box 26, Chimala , Tanzania
| | - Hanna Kokko
- 4 Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich , Zurich , Switzerland
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Gill LF, van Schaik J, von Bayern AMP, Gahr ML. Genetic monogamy despite frequent extrapair copulations in "strictly monogamous" wild jackdaws. Behav Ecol 2020; 31:247-260. [PMID: 32372855 PMCID: PMC7191249 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2019] [Revised: 09/29/2019] [Accepted: 10/05/2019] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
"Monogamy" refers to different components of pair exclusiveness: the social pair, sexual partners, and the genetic outcome of sexual encounters. Avian monogamy is usually defined socially or genetically, whereas quantifications of sexual behavior remain scarce. Jackdaws (Corvus monedula) are considered a rare example of strict monogamy in songbirds, with lifelong pair bonds and little genetic evidence for extrapair (EP) offspring. Yet jackdaw copulations, although accompanied by loud copulation calls, are rarely observed because they occur visually concealed inside nest cavities. Using full-day nest-box video surveillance and on-bird acoustic bio-logging, we directly observed jackdaw sexual behavior and compared it to the corresponding genetic outcome obtained via molecular parentage analysis. In the video-observed nests, we found genetic monogamy but frequently detected forced EP sexual behavior, accompanied by characteristic male copulation calls. We, thus, challenge the long-held notion of strict jackdaw monogamy at the sexual level. Our data suggest that male mate guarding and frequent intrapair copulations during the female fertile phase, as well as the forced nature of the copulations, could explain the absence of EP offspring. Because EP copulation behavior appeared to be costly for both sexes, we suggest that immediate fitness benefits are an unlikely explanation for its prevalence. Instead, sexual conflict and dominance effects could interact to shape the spatiotemporal pattern of EP sexual behavior in this species. Our results call for larger-scale investigations of jackdaw sexual behavior and parentage and highlight the importance of combining social, sexual, and genetic data sets for a more complete understanding of mating systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa F Gill
- Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Jaap van Schaik
- Department of Applied Zoology and Nature Conservation, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Auguste M P von Bayern
- Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse, Seewiesen, Germany
- Department of Biology II, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
| | - Manfred L Gahr
- Department of Behavioural Neurobiology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Eberhard-Gwinner-Strasse, Seewiesen, Germany
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Goymann W. Males paving the road to polyandry? Parental compensation in a monogamous nesting cuckoo and a classical polyandrous relative. Ethology 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Wolfgang Goymann
- Max‐Planck‐Institut für Ornithologie Abteilung für Verhaltensneurobiologie Seewiesen Germany
- Coucal Project Mbeya Tanzania
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