Extra-pair copulation(EPC)can potentially maximize individual reproductive fitness,and this process may involve sexual selection of male and female traits that reflect individual quality.Previous studies have implied ...Extra-pair copulation(EPC)can potentially maximize individual reproductive fitness,and this process may involve sexual selection of male and female traits that reflect individual quality.Previous studies have implied that adult characteristics are associated with the probability of extra-pair paternity(EPP),but it differs between species.Moreover,there are relatively few examples of the adaptive rationale for females’engagement in EPCs based on an examination of these more traditionally recorded traits,in combination with female flight-mediated traits such as wing length.We investigated whether EPP existed in the wild Chestnut Thrush(Turdus rubrocanus)population during three breeding seasons(2019–2021),and whether paternity was related to morphological traits of males and females.Eight highly variable microsatellite loci were used to identify paternity,and generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze the relationship between paternity and morphological traits.We found that EPP existed in the Chestnut Thrush.53.3%(N=41/77)of the broods contained at least one extra-pair offspring(EPO),and 34.6%(N=72/208)of the nestlings were EPO.We also found that male wing length was negatively associated with the probability of EPP and the proportion of EPO.Female body length was positively related to the probability of EPP.Both female body condition and mass were negatively associated with the proportion of EPO.While other traits of male and female did not relate to the probability of EPP or the proportion of EPO.Extra-pair males had better body condition compared to the males they cuckolded.EPO did not differ from their half-siblings in terms of body size or body condition.The results suggest that body size and body condition were associated with EPP in the Chestnut Thrush.This study provides fundamental information for further studies on the evolution and maintenance of EPP in the Chestnut Thrush,and it is also useful for the comparison of EPP among Turdus species.展开更多
Background:Extra-pair copulation behavior has been widely studied among socially monogamous birds.Many species revealed high rates of extra-pair paternity.But few of the studies have been carried out in the Asian popu...Background:Extra-pair copulation behavior has been widely studied among socially monogamous birds.Many species revealed high rates of extra-pair paternity.But few of the studies have been carried out in the Asian population.Methods:From 2012 to 2019,we explored the extra-pair paternity of Marsh Tits(Poecile palustris)in Xianrendong National Nature Reserve,Liaoning Province,China.During the study,adult Marsh Tits were captured with mist nets and parental birds,with nest-box traps.Blood samples were taken from the brachial vein.Parentage analyses were carried out using nine highly variable microsatellite loci through Cervus 3.0 software and maximum likelihood approach.Results:Forty-nine offspring(15.08%)from 20 nests(45.45%)were the results of extra-pair fertilization out of a total of 325 offspring in 44 nests.The average extra-pair offspring ratio was 33.54%,with a set varying from 11.11 to 71.43%.Nine extra-pair fathers had been successfully identified,four of whom were the close neighbors of the focus nest while the nests of the remaining five were relatively far.No significant difference was found in the genetic similarity between the social and extra-pair mates of the female,nor in the heterozygosis among the maternal half-siblings.Conclusions:In general,our study proved that the extra-pair paternity in Marsh Tits and its extra-pair mating is independent of the genetic compatibility hypothesis.This complements the understudied bird's extra-pair paternity in Asian area and contributes to the comprehensive insight of birds'extra-pair paternity behaviors.展开更多
Background:Extra-pair paternity(EPP)in birds provides benefits in terms of more offspring,and characteristics for maintenance of this behaviour have been the subject of investigation.Microorganisms are known to be tra...Background:Extra-pair paternity(EPP)in birds provides benefits in terms of more offspring,and characteristics for maintenance of this behaviour have been the subject of investigation.Microorganisms are known to be transmitted during mating,especially when mating with multiple partners,and factors reducing this cost of multiple mating are expected.Further,plumage brightness and colour intensity have been shown to be important traits to benefits from multiple mating as predicted by sexual selection.The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the rate of extra-pair paternity and the relative size of the uropygial gland at the interspecific level,as the uropygial gland is an exocrine gland hypothesized to produce antiparasitic substances and further identified to affect plumage brightness.Because of the expected benefits of large uropygial gland in scenarios of sexual selection,we predicted a positive correlation with EPP.Methods:We collected information from the literature of uropygial gland size and frequency of extra-pair paternity of 60 avian species of different families and explored the predicted positive correlation between them.We did so with means of comparative analyses that considered phylogenetic relationship as random factor and included body mass as covariate.We used Markov chain Monte Carlo generalized linear mixed models that were weighted by number of nests used to estimate extra-pair paternity.Results:We detected a positive relationship between level of extra-pair paternity and uropygial gland size at an interspecific level.This finding is consistent with the prediction.Conclusions:We discuss the importance of this result in scenarios of sexual selection and argue that the detected relationship may have arisen by utilizing antiparasitic secretions through secondary sexual characters indicating parasite resistance.展开更多
Extra-pair paternity(EPP)benefits to improve the reproductive success via extra-pair fertilizations without the costs of parental care in males and through improved offspring quality with additional food and parental c...Extra-pair paternity(EPP)benefits to improve the reproductive success via extra-pair fertilizations without the costs of parental care in males and through improved offspring quality with additional food and parental care in females among species of birds.Variations in the EPP appear to link to behavioral and ecological factors and sexual selection.According to the“relationship intelligence hypothesis”,the cognitive abilities of the birds play an important role in maintaining long-term relationships.Here,we undertook thefirst comparative test of the relationships between extra-pair paternity and brain size,testis size,and life histories among 315 species of birds using phylogenetically controlled comparative analyses and path analysis.After controlling for the effects of shared ancestry and body mass,the frequency of EPP was negatively correlated with relative brain size,but positively with testis size across species of birds.However,the frequency of EPP was not linked to life-history traits(e.g.incubation period,fledging period,clutch size,egg mass,and longevity).Ourfindings suggest that large-brained birds associated with enhanced cognitive abilities are more inclined to maintain long-term stable relationships with their mates and to mutualism with them than to increase the frequency of EPP.展开更多
Extra-pair paternity(EPP)is commonly found in socially monogamous birds,especially in small passerine birds,and there are interspecific and intraspecific variations in the extent of EPP.The Chestnut-vented Nuthatch(Si...Extra-pair paternity(EPP)is commonly found in socially monogamous birds,especially in small passerine birds,and there are interspecific and intraspecific variations in the extent of EPP.The Chestnut-vented Nuthatch(Sitta nagaensis)is a socially monogamous passerine bird,and verifying whether this species has EPP relies on parentage testing-S.nagaensis is not known to have EPP.In this study,we developed SNP markers of this species that are informative for parentage analysis from double digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing(ddRAD-seq)data.A panel consisting of 50 SNP markers,with a mean heterozygosity of 0.343,was used to resolve 95% of nestlings to fathers.The combined exclusion probabilities for the first parent and second parent were 0.991 and 0.9999,respectively.This panel of SNP markers is a powerful tool for parentage assignments in S.nagaensis.In addition,we found that three offspring(7.9%)from three nests(23.1%)were the result of extra-pair fertilization out of 38 offspring in 13 nests.Our study provided information on parentage analysis that has not been reported before in S.nagaensis.It also supplemented the understudied EPP behavior of birds in Asia,contributing to a general understanding of the EPP behaviors of birds.展开更多
Background:Genes of the major histocompatibility complex(MHC)are an important component of the vertebrate immune system and play a significant role in mate choice in animal populations.However,the MHC genetic targets ...Background:Genes of the major histocompatibility complex(MHC)are an important component of the vertebrate immune system and play a significant role in mate choice in animal populations.However,the MHC genetic targets of female mate choice have not been clearly identified,and whether female mate choice is based on neutral genetic characteristics remains an open question.Here,we focus on the effects of morphological traits and genetic similarity among individuals in MHC class IIB(MHC IIB)exon 2 on mating in a sexually dimorphic songbird that exhibits social monogamy with extra-pair paternity(EPP).Methods:We sequenced 64 parent-offspring triads sampled over a 3-year period using two MHC class II loci to detect disassortative mating in the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher(Ficedula zanthopygia).Results:We found that MHC similarity in social pairs was lower than that in random pairs.Extra-pair mate choice according to MHC IIB was observed,in which females’extra-pair mates had fewer MHC alleles than their within-pair mates,but there was no significant band-sharing between extra-pair sires and potential extra-pair mates.However,the interaction between the MHC diversity of females and that of the social males affected the occurrence of EPP.Conclusions:Our results support the“optimality hypothesis”of MHC-based social and extra-pair choice.Female choice probably maintains a certain level of MHC diversity in offspring in the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher.展开更多
Sexual imprinting is a common mechanism of mate preference learning. It is thought to influence how traits evolve and in some cases to promote speciation. Recently there has been increasing interest in how sexual impr...Sexual imprinting is a common mechanism of mate preference learning. It is thought to influence how traits evolve and in some cases to promote speciation. Recently there has been increasing interest in how sexual imprinting itself evolves. Theoretical work on polygynous mating systems predicts that females will evolve paternal imprinting, which means they learn to prefer phenotypes expressed by their fathers. In nature however, females of some species learn to prefer phenotypes expressed by their mothers instead. We used a dynamical systems model and tools from adaptive dynamics to study how sexual imprinting evolves in species with socially monogamous mating systems. We considered cases in which the target trait for imprinting is un- der viability selection but is not a reliable signal of paternal investment. Thus, the target trait signals the genetic benefits rather than the parental care benefits of mate choice. When mating is socially monogamous and there is some extra-pair patemity, we show that maternal imprinting can be favored over paternal imprinting. Counterintuitively, females often become choosier when selecting social partners in systems where extra-pair mating is more frequent. That is, females may be more selective when choosing social partners that will sire a smaller percentage of their offspring. Our results offer new testable hypotheses, and ad- vance our understanding of the mechanisms that drive the evolution of mate choice strategies in nature .展开更多
Sexual conflict in producing and raising offspring is a critical issue in evolutionary ecology research.Individual experience affects their breeding performance,as measured by such traits of provisioning of offspring ...Sexual conflict in producing and raising offspring is a critical issue in evolutionary ecology research.Individual experience affects their breeding performance,as measured by such traits of provisioning of offspring and engagement in extra-pair copulations,and may cause an imbalance in sexual conflict.Thus,divorce is hypothesized to occur within aged social pairs,irrespective of current reproductive success.This concept was explored in the azure-winged magpie Cyanopica cyanus by investigating the divorce of a social pair and its relationship to their changes in breeding performance with prior experience.Females engaging in extra-pair copulation may intensify sexual conflicts and may be the main reason for divorce.Once divorced,females repairing with an inexperienced male realized higher reproductive success than that repairing with an experienced male;males repairing with an experienced female realized higher reproductive success than that repairing with an inexperienced female.This finding indicates that the fitness consequence of divorce depends on the breeding experience of new mates.Divorced females can obtain more extra-pair copulations,whereas divorced males cannot,when they repair with inexperienced breeders.Divorced females provisioned a brood at lower rates than inexperienced females whereas divorced males had no such difference.It appears that divorced females can obtain an advantage in sexual conflicts with inexperienced mates in future reproduction.Consequently,females are probably more active than males in divorcing their aged mates so as to select an inexperienced male as a new mate.Azure-winged magpies thus provide novel insights into the implicaticns of sexual conflict in birds.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Project 32070452).
文摘Extra-pair copulation(EPC)can potentially maximize individual reproductive fitness,and this process may involve sexual selection of male and female traits that reflect individual quality.Previous studies have implied that adult characteristics are associated with the probability of extra-pair paternity(EPP),but it differs between species.Moreover,there are relatively few examples of the adaptive rationale for females’engagement in EPCs based on an examination of these more traditionally recorded traits,in combination with female flight-mediated traits such as wing length.We investigated whether EPP existed in the wild Chestnut Thrush(Turdus rubrocanus)population during three breeding seasons(2019–2021),and whether paternity was related to morphological traits of males and females.Eight highly variable microsatellite loci were used to identify paternity,and generalized linear mixed models were used to analyze the relationship between paternity and morphological traits.We found that EPP existed in the Chestnut Thrush.53.3%(N=41/77)of the broods contained at least one extra-pair offspring(EPO),and 34.6%(N=72/208)of the nestlings were EPO.We also found that male wing length was negatively associated with the probability of EPP and the proportion of EPO.Female body length was positively related to the probability of EPP.Both female body condition and mass were negatively associated with the proportion of EPO.While other traits of male and female did not relate to the probability of EPP or the proportion of EPO.Extra-pair males had better body condition compared to the males they cuckolded.EPO did not differ from their half-siblings in terms of body size or body condition.The results suggest that body size and body condition were associated with EPP in the Chestnut Thrush.This study provides fundamental information for further studies on the evolution and maintenance of EPP in the Chestnut Thrush,and it is also useful for the comparison of EPP among Turdus species.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.31872231)to DWthe Youth Foundation of Liaoning University(Grant No.A251901012)to JW。
文摘Background:Extra-pair copulation behavior has been widely studied among socially monogamous birds.Many species revealed high rates of extra-pair paternity.But few of the studies have been carried out in the Asian population.Methods:From 2012 to 2019,we explored the extra-pair paternity of Marsh Tits(Poecile palustris)in Xianrendong National Nature Reserve,Liaoning Province,China.During the study,adult Marsh Tits were captured with mist nets and parental birds,with nest-box traps.Blood samples were taken from the brachial vein.Parentage analyses were carried out using nine highly variable microsatellite loci through Cervus 3.0 software and maximum likelihood approach.Results:Forty-nine offspring(15.08%)from 20 nests(45.45%)were the results of extra-pair fertilization out of a total of 325 offspring in 44 nests.The average extra-pair offspring ratio was 33.54%,with a set varying from 11.11 to 71.43%.Nine extra-pair fathers had been successfully identified,four of whom were the close neighbors of the focus nest while the nests of the remaining five were relatively far.No significant difference was found in the genetic similarity between the social and extra-pair mates of the female,nor in the heterozygosis among the maternal half-siblings.Conclusions:In general,our study proved that the extra-pair paternity in Marsh Tits and its extra-pair mating is independent of the genetic compatibility hypothesis.This complements the understudied bird's extra-pair paternity in Asian area and contributes to the comprehensive insight of birds'extra-pair paternity behaviors.
基金JJS received financial support by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia,Innovación y Universidades and European(FEDER)funds(CGL2017-83103-P).
文摘Background:Extra-pair paternity(EPP)in birds provides benefits in terms of more offspring,and characteristics for maintenance of this behaviour have been the subject of investigation.Microorganisms are known to be transmitted during mating,especially when mating with multiple partners,and factors reducing this cost of multiple mating are expected.Further,plumage brightness and colour intensity have been shown to be important traits to benefits from multiple mating as predicted by sexual selection.The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the rate of extra-pair paternity and the relative size of the uropygial gland at the interspecific level,as the uropygial gland is an exocrine gland hypothesized to produce antiparasitic substances and further identified to affect plumage brightness.Because of the expected benefits of large uropygial gland in scenarios of sexual selection,we predicted a positive correlation with EPP.Methods:We collected information from the literature of uropygial gland size and frequency of extra-pair paternity of 60 avian species of different families and explored the predicted positive correlation between them.We did so with means of comparative analyses that considered phylogenetic relationship as random factor and included body mass as covariate.We used Markov chain Monte Carlo generalized linear mixed models that were weighted by number of nests used to estimate extra-pair paternity.Results:We detected a positive relationship between level of extra-pair paternity and uropygial gland size at an interspecific level.This finding is consistent with the prediction.Conclusions:We discuss the importance of this result in scenarios of sexual selection and argue that the detected relationship may have arisen by utilizing antiparasitic secretions through secondary sexual characters indicating parasite resistance.
基金Financial support was provided by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China(31772451,31970393)the Science and Technology Youth Innovation Team of Sichuan Province(19DTTD0012)+1 种基金the Innovation Project of Guangxi Graduate Education(YCSW2021116)the project of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Rare and Endangered Animal Ecology,Guangxi Normal University(18-A-02-04).
文摘Extra-pair paternity(EPP)benefits to improve the reproductive success via extra-pair fertilizations without the costs of parental care in males and through improved offspring quality with additional food and parental care in females among species of birds.Variations in the EPP appear to link to behavioral and ecological factors and sexual selection.According to the“relationship intelligence hypothesis”,the cognitive abilities of the birds play an important role in maintaining long-term relationships.Here,we undertook thefirst comparative test of the relationships between extra-pair paternity and brain size,testis size,and life histories among 315 species of birds using phylogenetically controlled comparative analyses and path analysis.After controlling for the effects of shared ancestry and body mass,the frequency of EPP was negatively correlated with relative brain size,but positively with testis size across species of birds.However,the frequency of EPP was not linked to life-history traits(e.g.incubation period,fledging period,clutch size,egg mass,and longevity).Ourfindings suggest that large-brained birds associated with enhanced cognitive abilities are more inclined to maintain long-term stable relationships with their mates and to mutualism with them than to increase the frequency of EPP.
基金supported by the Science and Technology Project of Yunnan(202101AT070040)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(U23A20162)+1 种基金the Yunnan Provincial Department of Education Fund for Scientific Research Project(2023Y0722)the First Class Forestry Academic Subject in Yunnan Province.
文摘Extra-pair paternity(EPP)is commonly found in socially monogamous birds,especially in small passerine birds,and there are interspecific and intraspecific variations in the extent of EPP.The Chestnut-vented Nuthatch(Sitta nagaensis)is a socially monogamous passerine bird,and verifying whether this species has EPP relies on parentage testing-S.nagaensis is not known to have EPP.In this study,we developed SNP markers of this species that are informative for parentage analysis from double digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing(ddRAD-seq)data.A panel consisting of 50 SNP markers,with a mean heterozygosity of 0.343,was used to resolve 95% of nestlings to fathers.The combined exclusion probabilities for the first parent and second parent were 0.991 and 0.9999,respectively.This panel of SNP markers is a powerful tool for parentage assignments in S.nagaensis.In addition,we found that three offspring(7.9%)from three nests(23.1%)were the result of extra-pair fertilization out of 38 offspring in 13 nests.Our study provided information on parentage analysis that has not been reported before in S.nagaensis.It also supplemented the understudied EPP behavior of birds in Asia,contributing to a general understanding of the EPP behaviors of birds.
基金The study was financed by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31801976 to ME and No.20111938 to HW)the University Student Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program of Jilin Province(No.202010205057 to ME)the Natural Science Foundation of Changchun Normal University.
文摘Background:Genes of the major histocompatibility complex(MHC)are an important component of the vertebrate immune system and play a significant role in mate choice in animal populations.However,the MHC genetic targets of female mate choice have not been clearly identified,and whether female mate choice is based on neutral genetic characteristics remains an open question.Here,we focus on the effects of morphological traits and genetic similarity among individuals in MHC class IIB(MHC IIB)exon 2 on mating in a sexually dimorphic songbird that exhibits social monogamy with extra-pair paternity(EPP).Methods:We sequenced 64 parent-offspring triads sampled over a 3-year period using two MHC class II loci to detect disassortative mating in the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher(Ficedula zanthopygia).Results:We found that MHC similarity in social pairs was lower than that in random pairs.Extra-pair mate choice according to MHC IIB was observed,in which females’extra-pair mates had fewer MHC alleles than their within-pair mates,but there was no significant band-sharing between extra-pair sires and potential extra-pair mates.However,the interaction between the MHC diversity of females and that of the social males affected the occurrence of EPP.Conclusions:Our results support the“optimality hypothesis”of MHC-based social and extra-pair choice.Female choice probably maintains a certain level of MHC diversity in offspring in the Yellow-rumped Flycatcher.
文摘Sexual imprinting is a common mechanism of mate preference learning. It is thought to influence how traits evolve and in some cases to promote speciation. Recently there has been increasing interest in how sexual imprinting itself evolves. Theoretical work on polygynous mating systems predicts that females will evolve paternal imprinting, which means they learn to prefer phenotypes expressed by their fathers. In nature however, females of some species learn to prefer phenotypes expressed by their mothers instead. We used a dynamical systems model and tools from adaptive dynamics to study how sexual imprinting evolves in species with socially monogamous mating systems. We considered cases in which the target trait for imprinting is un- der viability selection but is not a reliable signal of paternal investment. Thus, the target trait signals the genetic benefits rather than the parental care benefits of mate choice. When mating is socially monogamous and there is some extra-pair patemity, we show that maternal imprinting can be favored over paternal imprinting. Counterintuitively, females often become choosier when selecting social partners in systems where extra-pair mating is more frequent. That is, females may be more selective when choosing social partners that will sire a smaller percentage of their offspring. Our results offer new testable hypotheses, and ad- vance our understanding of the mechanisms that drive the evolution of mate choice strategies in nature .
基金Financial support was provided by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China(Grant 31772465 and 31572271)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,China(lzujbky-2017-147).
文摘Sexual conflict in producing and raising offspring is a critical issue in evolutionary ecology research.Individual experience affects their breeding performance,as measured by such traits of provisioning of offspring and engagement in extra-pair copulations,and may cause an imbalance in sexual conflict.Thus,divorce is hypothesized to occur within aged social pairs,irrespective of current reproductive success.This concept was explored in the azure-winged magpie Cyanopica cyanus by investigating the divorce of a social pair and its relationship to their changes in breeding performance with prior experience.Females engaging in extra-pair copulation may intensify sexual conflicts and may be the main reason for divorce.Once divorced,females repairing with an inexperienced male realized higher reproductive success than that repairing with an experienced male;males repairing with an experienced female realized higher reproductive success than that repairing with an inexperienced female.This finding indicates that the fitness consequence of divorce depends on the breeding experience of new mates.Divorced females can obtain more extra-pair copulations,whereas divorced males cannot,when they repair with inexperienced breeders.Divorced females provisioned a brood at lower rates than inexperienced females whereas divorced males had no such difference.It appears that divorced females can obtain an advantage in sexual conflicts with inexperienced mates in future reproduction.Consequently,females are probably more active than males in divorcing their aged mates so as to select an inexperienced male as a new mate.Azure-winged magpies thus provide novel insights into the implicaticns of sexual conflict in birds.
