Title |
Male infertility, female fertility and extrapair copulations
|
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Published in |
Biological Reviews, April 2009
|
DOI | 10.1111/j.1469-185x.2008.00068.x |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Oren Hasson, Lewi Stone |
Abstract |
Females that are socially bonded to a single male, either in a social monogamy or in a social polygyny, are often sexually polyandrous. Extrapair copulations (EPC) have often been suggested or rejected, on both empirical and theoretical grounds, as an important mechanism that enables females to avoid fertility risks in case their socially bonded male is infertile. Here, we explore this possibility in two steps. First, we present a mathematical model that assumes that females have no precopulatory information about male fertility, and shows that a female EPC strategy increases female reproductive success only if certain specific conditions are upheld in the nature of male infertility. In particular, these conditions require both (i) that fertile sperm precedence (FSP) is absent or incomplete within ejaculates of the same male (i.e. that an infertile male is, at least partly, truly infertile), and (ii) the existence of FSP among ejaculates of different males (such that infertile spermatozoa of the infertile male are at a disadvantage when competing against spermatozoa of a fertile male). Second, to evaluate their potential role in the evolution of female EPC, we review the abundance and FSP patterns of the different male infertility types. The conclusion is drawn that some common infertility types, such as poor sperm count or motility, contribute to the evolution of female EPC, whereas other common infertility types, such as sperm depletion or allocation in a social monogamy (but not in a social polygyny), and in particular male driven polyspermy, do not. Also, a deeper look at the arms race between sperm fertilization efficiency and female barriers to sperm may answer the non-trivial question: "why are some types of infertility so common?" |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom | 2 | 1% |
United States | 2 | 1% |
Brazil | 2 | 1% |
Canada | 2 | 1% |
Australia | 1 | <1% |
South Africa | 1 | <1% |
Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
Romania | 1 | <1% |
Other | 1 | <1% |
Unknown | 140 | 91% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 33 | 21% |
Researcher | 31 | 20% |
Student > Master | 26 | 17% |
Other | 9 | 6% |
Student > Postgraduate | 9 | 6% |
Other | 27 | 18% |
Unknown | 19 | 12% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 103 | 67% |
Environmental Science | 8 | 5% |
Medicine and Dentistry | 5 | 3% |
Psychology | 4 | 3% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 2% |
Other | 7 | 5% |
Unknown | 24 | 16% |