Mason, C. orcid.org/0009-0000-9622-0638, Tschirren, B. and Hemmings, N. orcid.org/0000-0003-2418-3625 (2024) Effects of female-specific selection for reproductive investment on male fertility traits. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 37 (9). pp. 1113-1124. ISSN 1010-061X
Abstract
Despite sharing an autosomal genome, the often divergent reproductive strategies of males and females cause the selection to act in a sex-specific manner. Selection acting on one sex can have negative, positive, or neutral fitness consequences on the opposite sex. Here, we test how female-limited selection on reproductive investment in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) affects male fertility-related traits. Despite there being no difference in the size of males’ testes from lines selected for high female reproductive investment (H-line) or low female reproductive investment (L-line), in both lines, the left testis had a greater volume of sperm-producing tissue. Since H-line females have a larger left-side restricted oviduct, this suggests a positive genetic correlation between male and female gonad function and that internal testis structure is a target of sexual selection. However, despite H-line males having previously been found to have greater fertilization success in a competitive scenario, we found little evidence of a difference between the lines in sperm number, motility, velocity, length, or the number of sperm that reached the ova. Precopulatory cues and/or the role of seminal fluid in sperm motility may thus be more likely to contribute to the H-line male fertilization advantage in this species.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Evolutionary Biology. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | egg size; fertility; sexual selection; sperm; spermatogenesis; testis; Animals; Male; Female; Fertility; Coturnix; Testis; Sexual Selection; Selection, Genetic; Reproduction; Spermatozoa |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Animal and Plant Sciences (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Natural Environment Research Council 2594476 Royal Society 13525 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 16 Oct 2024 10:17 |
Last Modified: | 16 Oct 2024 10:17 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1093/jeb/voae095 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:218449 |