Evolution of mating systems in coral reef gobies and constraints on mating system plasticity |
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Authors: | V Hernaman P L Munday |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Marine Science, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand;(2) Centre for Coral Reef Biodiversity, School of Marine Biology and Aquaculture, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia |
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Abstract: | Social and mating systems can be influenced by the distribution, abundance, and economic defendability of breeding partners
and essential resources. Polygyny is predicted where males can economically defend multiple females or essential resources
used by females. In contrast, monogamy is predicted where neither sex can monopolise multiple partners, either directly or
through resource control, but where one mate is economically defendable. The mating system and reproductive behaviour of five
species of coral reef goby were investigated and contrasted with population density and individual mobility. The two most
abundant species (Asterropteryx semipunctatus and Istigobius goldmanni) were polygynous. In contrast, the less populous and more widely dispersed epibenthic species (Amblygobius bynoensis, Amblygobius phalaena and Valenciennea muralis) were pair forming and monogamous. All five species had low mobility, mostly remaining within metres (3 epibenthic species)
or centimetres (2 cryptobenthic species) of a permanent shelter site. Interspecific differences in the mating system may have
been shaped by differences in population density and the ability of reproductive individuals to economically defend breeding
partners/sites. However, in a test of mating system plasticity, males of the three monogamous species did not mate polygynously
when given the opportunity to do so in experimental manipulations of density and sex ratio. Mate guarding and complex spawning
characteristics, which have likely co-evolved with the monogamous mating system, could contribute to mating system inflexibility
by making polygynous mating unprofitable for individuals of the pair forming species, even when presented with current-day
ecological conditions that usually favour polygyny. |
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Keywords: | Mating system plasticity Monogamy Polygyny Paternal care Reproductive behaviour Gobiidae |
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