Weak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.

Female aggregation and male territoriality are considered to be hallmarks of polygynous mating systems. The development of genetic parentage assignment has called into question the accuracy of behavioral traits in predicting true mating systems. In this study we use 14 microsatellite markers to expl...

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Autores principales:	Ramona Flatz, Manuela González-Suárez, Julie K Young, Claudia J Hernández-Camacho, Aaron J Immel, Leah R Gerber
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2012
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/34cdae86fa3640e5b45c190ae252a483
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:34cdae86fa3640e5b45c190ae252a4832021-11-18T07:25:08ZWeak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0033654https://doaj.org/article/34cdae86fa3640e5b45c190ae252a4832012-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22432039/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203Female aggregation and male territoriality are considered to be hallmarks of polygynous mating systems. The development of genetic parentage assignment has called into question the accuracy of behavioral traits in predicting true mating systems. In this study we use 14 microsatellite markers to explore the mating system of one of the most behaviorally polygynous species, the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus). We sampled a total of 158 female-pup pairs and 99 territorial males across two breeding rookeries (San Jorge and Los Islotes) in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Fathers could be identified for 30% of pups sampled at San Jorge across three breeding seasons and 15% of sampled pups at Los Islotes across two breeding seasons. Analysis of paternal relatedness between the pups for which no fathers were identified (sampled over four breeding seasons at San Jorge and two at Los Islotes) revealed that few pups were likely to share a father. Thirty-one percent of the sampled males on San Jorge and 15% of the sampled males on Los Islotes were assigned at least one paternity. With one exception, no male was identified as the father of more than two pups. Furthermore, at Los Islotes rookery there were significantly fewer pups assigned paternity than expected given the pool of sampled males (p<0.0001). Overall, we found considerably lower variation in male reproductive success than expected in a species that exhibits behavior associated with strongly polygynous mating. Low variation in male reproductive success may result from heightened mobility among receptive females in the Gulf of California, which reduces the ability of males to monopolize groups of females. Our results raise important questions regarding the adaptive role of territoriality and the potential for alternative mating tactics in this species.Ramona FlatzManuela González-SuárezJulie K YoungClaudia J Hernández-CamachoAaron J ImmelLeah R GerberPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 3, p e33654 (2012)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Ramona Flatz Manuela González-Suárez Julie K Young Claudia J Hernández-Camacho Aaron J Immel Leah R Gerber Weak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.
description	Female aggregation and male territoriality are considered to be hallmarks of polygynous mating systems. The development of genetic parentage assignment has called into question the accuracy of behavioral traits in predicting true mating systems. In this study we use 14 microsatellite markers to explore the mating system of one of the most behaviorally polygynous species, the California sea lion (Zalophus californianus). We sampled a total of 158 female-pup pairs and 99 territorial males across two breeding rookeries (San Jorge and Los Islotes) in the Gulf of California, Mexico. Fathers could be identified for 30% of pups sampled at San Jorge across three breeding seasons and 15% of sampled pups at Los Islotes across two breeding seasons. Analysis of paternal relatedness between the pups for which no fathers were identified (sampled over four breeding seasons at San Jorge and two at Los Islotes) revealed that few pups were likely to share a father. Thirty-one percent of the sampled males on San Jorge and 15% of the sampled males on Los Islotes were assigned at least one paternity. With one exception, no male was identified as the father of more than two pups. Furthermore, at Los Islotes rookery there were significantly fewer pups assigned paternity than expected given the pool of sampled males (p<0.0001). Overall, we found considerably lower variation in male reproductive success than expected in a species that exhibits behavior associated with strongly polygynous mating. Low variation in male reproductive success may result from heightened mobility among receptive females in the Gulf of California, which reduces the ability of males to monopolize groups of females. Our results raise important questions regarding the adaptive role of territoriality and the potential for alternative mating tactics in this species.
format	article
author	Ramona Flatz Manuela González-Suárez Julie K Young Claudia J Hernández-Camacho Aaron J Immel Leah R Gerber
author_facet	Ramona Flatz Manuela González-Suárez Julie K Young Claudia J Hernández-Camacho Aaron J Immel Leah R Gerber
author_sort	Ramona Flatz
title	Weak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.
title_short	Weak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.
title_full	Weak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.
title_fullStr	Weak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.
title_full_unstemmed	Weak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.
title_sort	weak polygyny in california sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2012
url	https://doaj.org/article/34cdae86fa3640e5b45c190ae252a483
work_keys_str_mv	AT ramonaflatz weakpolygynyincaliforniasealionsandthepotentialforalternativematingtactics AT manuelagonzalezsuarez weakpolygynyincaliforniasealionsandthepotentialforalternativematingtactics AT juliekyoung weakpolygynyincaliforniasealionsandthepotentialforalternativematingtactics AT claudiajhernandezcamacho weakpolygynyincaliforniasealionsandthepotentialforalternativematingtactics AT aaronjimmel weakpolygynyincaliforniasealionsandthepotentialforalternativematingtactics AT leahrgerber weakpolygynyincaliforniasealionsandthepotentialforalternativematingtactics
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Weak polygyny in California sea lions and the potential for alternative mating tactics.

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