Journal article
Reproductive timing as an explanation for skewed parentage assignment ratio in a bisexually philopatric population
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol.76(9), pp.1-13
2022
Abstract
In mammals, reproductive success can often be directly observed for females, but not males. Early-life correlates of female reproductive success can also be easier to observe due to higher rates of philopatry. Though relatively uncommon, populations in which both sexes remain in their natal home ranges can facilitate studies of mate choice and sex-specific drivers of reproductive success. Genetic parentage assessment in these systems should be more complete due to spatial philopatry since the pool of potential mothers and fathers should be equally accessible for sampling. Nevertheless, many studies still report more maternities than paternities even when individuals are randomly sampled with respect to age and sex. This discrepancy is often attributed to unobserved outbreeding. Here, we investigate two potential drivers for biased genetic parentage assignment in a bisexually philopatric community of bottlenose dolphins in which twice as many maternities as paternities are assigned to randomly sampled adults. We examine whether this pattern can best be explained by (1) sex differences in reproductive timing or (2) high levels of extra-community mating. We use long-term data on female calving success to search for biases in our genetic data collection and to constrain simulations of male reproductive timing patterns that could generate our observed data. We find that the majority of the skew in parentage assignment could be explained by differences in reproductive timing, with a smaller putative role of extra-community mating. We discuss how explicitly considering age effects as well as outbreeding can improve our understanding of sex-specific drivers of reproductive success.
Details
- Title
- Reproductive timing as an explanation for skewed parentage assignment ratio in a bisexually philopatric population
- Authors
- Vivienne Foroughirad (Corresponding Author) - Georgetown UniversityMolly McEntee (Author) - Georgetown UniversityAnna M. Kopps (Author) - Independent ConsultantAlexis Levengood (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringCeline Frère (Author) - University of QueenslandJanet Mann (Author) - Georgetown University
- Publication details
- Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, Vol.76(9), pp.1-13
- Publisher
- Springer
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00265-022-03233-2
- ISSN
- 1432-0762
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Technical and Work Integrated Learning (WIL) Operations - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99669298502621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- International collaboration
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- Behavioral Sciences
- Ecology
- Zoology
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