
Henrik Smith
Professor

Sperm competition in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris): An experimental study of mate switching
Författare
Summary, in English
In apparently monogamous or polygynous birds, sperm from several males may compete to fertilize the eggs laid by one female. In this study we evaluate sperm competition in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris) by means of a mate-switching experiment. Already-mated males were removed between 1-7 d before their mates started egg-laying, resulting in the female remating with a new male. The original males' parentage in the subsequent clutches was evaluated using DNA-fingerprinting. The original males fathered only two out of 46 eggs of those which were not likely to have been fertilized already when the males were removed. The low success of the original males can be attributed to a high within-pair copulation frequency during the assumed fertile period before laying and throughout the laying period, resulting in replacement males fathering most offspring. Thus the success of extra-pair copulations more than 2 d before egg-laying is probably very low. The results are discussed in relation to contrasting results from other mate-switching studies.
Avdelning/ar
- MEMEG
- Biodiversitet
- Biologiska institutionen
- Molekylär ekologi och evolution
Publiceringsår
1996
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
797-801
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
Volym
263
Issue
1371
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Royal Society Publishing
Ämne
- Biological Sciences
- Ecology
Nyckelord
- frequency
- extra-pair paternity
- intraspecific brood parasitism
- female control
- dna
- zebra finch
- birds
- copulation
- cuckoldry
Status
Published
Forskningsgrupp
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1471-2954