Abstract
Variation in levels of multiple paternity (MP) among species, populations and individuals has important ecological and evolutionary ramifications including maintenance of genetic diversity and offspring fitness benefits. Within species, differences in breeding experience and body size may affect the levels of MP via mate choice preferences. The present study tested these ideas in an Australian loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) population at Mon Repos Beach (24°48°S, 152°27°E, Queensland) to determine if variation in MP was related female breeding history or body size, or influenced embryo and hatchling outcomes in clutches from 29 females and 552 hatchlings. MP was moderately high (65.5%), but experienced females did not have higher levels of MP than first-time breeders (neophytes), nor was female size related to the number of sires. Instead, more subtle patterns emerged: multiply sired clutches of experienced females were sired by more males than those of multiply sired neophyte clutches and primary fathers sired a greater proportion of offspring when mated to larger females. These findings are consistent with cross-seasonal sperm storage in experienced breeders contributing to a small proportion of paternity and size-dependent variation in polyandrous mating behaviour. MP did not influence offspring size, levels of within-clutch morphological variation or hatching success. However, the number of sires of a clutch was positively correlated with proportion of developed embryos, suggesting a fitness advantage of MP. From a population perspective, male-biased sex ratios likely contribute to the MP levels observed, and levels could decrease with projected feminisation of populations due to climate change.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the many volunteers of the turtle research program and the staff at Mon Repos Conservation Park for helping with the considerable logistics of the fieldwork. In particular, thanks to Helen Twaddle, the Limpus family, Kate Winter, Katherine Roberston and John Sergeev. We thank the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection for supporting the marine turtle research and monitoring. For helpful advice and support in the lab we thank Sophie Olsson-Pons and Nick Clark. Support for the project was provided through the Griffith School of Environment and the Environmental Futures Centre. We thank the anonymous reviewers of this manuscript for their constructive criticisms and helpful comments.
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Animal use in this study was conducted in conjunction with research and monitoring by the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection under their wildlife use and animal ethics permit.
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Responsible Editor: P. Casale.
Reviewed by C. Carreras and B. I. González-Garza.
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Howe, M., FitzSimmons, N.N., Limpus, C.J. et al. Multiple paternity in a Pacific marine turtle population: maternal attributes, offspring outcomes and demographic inferences. Mar Biol 165, 2 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-017-3258-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-017-3258-y