Seasonal variation of reproductive success under female philopatry and male-biased dispersal in a common vole population |
| |
Authors: | Anetta Borkowska |
| |
Institution: | Institute of Biology, University of Bia?ystok, ?wierkowa 20B, 15-950 Bia?ystok, Poland |
| |
Abstract: | Variation of reproductive success, an important determinant of the opportunity for sexual selection, is an outcome of competition within one sex for mating with members of the other sex. In promiscuous species, males typically compete for access to females, and their reproductive strategies are strongly related to the spatial distribution of females. I used 10 microsatellite loci and the mtDNA control region to determine seasonal differences in the reproductive success of males and females of the common vole (Microtus arvalis), one of the most numerous mammals in Europe. The sex-related spatial structure and bias in dispersal between genders were also assessed. Standardized variance of the reproductive success of females did not vary seasonally due to the continuity of female philopatry throughout the breeding season and to the constancy of the number of females reproducing successfully in each season. The males are the dispersing sex, undergoing both natal and breeding dispersal. Their standardized variance of reproductive success was significantly higher than that for females in July, when only two males monopolized 80% of the females in the population and when variance of male reproductive success was highest (Im = 7.70). The seasonally varying and high standardized variance of male reproductive success may be explained by male-male competition for matings, coupled with seasonal changes in the age structure of the population. |
| |
Keywords: | Common vole Female kin clusters Male-biased dispersal Microsatellites mtDNA Reproductive success |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect 等数据库收录! |
|