Territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal

Abstract In solitary carnivorous mammals, territoriality is assumed to benefit male fitness by ensuring the exclusivity of matings within territories via mate guarding and female defence. However, this hypothesis remains empirically untested. Here, we examined this hypothesis for solitary territoria...

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Autores principales:	Francisco Palomares, María Lucena-Pérez, José Vicente López-Bao, José Antonio Godoy
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/3aedec4503d74d3fa90c6c97f12de30b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:3aedec4503d74d3fa90c6c97f12de30b2021-12-02T12:30:51ZTerritoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal10.1038/s41598-017-04820-42045-2322https://doaj.org/article/3aedec4503d74d3fa90c6c97f12de30b2017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-04820-4https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract In solitary carnivorous mammals, territoriality is assumed to benefit male fitness by ensuring the exclusivity of matings within territories via mate guarding and female defence. However, this hypothesis remains empirically untested. Here, we examined this hypothesis for solitary territorial carnivores using the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) as a case study. We expected that territorial males sire all litters born within their territories, translating into the absence of multi-paternity cases within the same litter. We analysed parentage in 43 kittens, belonging to 20 different litters. For 42 kittens, a father could be assigned using microsatellites and always coincided with the individual holding the territory. For 16 kittens from 10 litters for which we also had information on SNPs, paternity assignments coincided with microsatellites, except for a litter (two kittens) from the same litter for which a different male was assigned, but the territorial male could not be excluded. Our results indicated that multi-paternity in the Iberian lynx must be a rare event, and that territorial males sire all litters born from the females with which they share territories. We propose that both the low number of mature individuals in the lynx population and the fact that female oestrus is induced by male presence may explain results.Francisco PalomaresMaría Lucena-PérezJosé Vicente López-BaoJosé Antonio GodoyNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-6 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Francisco Palomares María Lucena-Pérez José Vicente López-Bao José Antonio Godoy Territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal
description	Abstract In solitary carnivorous mammals, territoriality is assumed to benefit male fitness by ensuring the exclusivity of matings within territories via mate guarding and female defence. However, this hypothesis remains empirically untested. Here, we examined this hypothesis for solitary territorial carnivores using the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) as a case study. We expected that territorial males sire all litters born within their territories, translating into the absence of multi-paternity cases within the same litter. We analysed parentage in 43 kittens, belonging to 20 different litters. For 42 kittens, a father could be assigned using microsatellites and always coincided with the individual holding the territory. For 16 kittens from 10 litters for which we also had information on SNPs, paternity assignments coincided with microsatellites, except for a litter (two kittens) from the same litter for which a different male was assigned, but the territorial male could not be excluded. Our results indicated that multi-paternity in the Iberian lynx must be a rare event, and that territorial males sire all litters born from the females with which they share territories. We propose that both the low number of mature individuals in the lynx population and the fact that female oestrus is induced by male presence may explain results.
format	article
author	Francisco Palomares María Lucena-Pérez José Vicente López-Bao José Antonio Godoy
author_facet	Francisco Palomares María Lucena-Pérez José Vicente López-Bao José Antonio Godoy
author_sort	Francisco Palomares
title	Territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal
title_short	Territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal
title_full	Territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal
title_fullStr	Territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal
title_full_unstemmed	Territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal
title_sort	territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/3aedec4503d74d3fa90c6c97f12de30b
work_keys_str_mv	AT franciscopalomares territorialityensurespaternityinasolitarycarnivoremammal AT marialucenaperez territorialityensurespaternityinasolitarycarnivoremammal AT josevicentelopezbao territorialityensurespaternityinasolitarycarnivoremammal AT joseantoniogodoy territorialityensurespaternityinasolitarycarnivoremammal
_version_	1718394270868570112

Territoriality ensures paternity in a solitary carnivore mammal

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