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Sperm storage reflects within- and extra-pair mating opportunities in a cooperatively breeding bird

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Abstract

In passerine birds, storage and maturation of sperm takes place in the cloacal protuberance (CP), an external swelling of the reproductive organ. The considerable variation in CP size among species is presumed to be a consequence of varying levels of sperm-competition, but whether individual variation in CP size within a species also reflects sperm competition is not well established. Here, we study temporal variation in male CP size in relation to within-pair and extra-pair mating opportunities and cuckoldry risk in purple-crowned fairy-wrens Malurus coronatus. This is a socially monogamous cooperatively breeding passerine that can breed year-round and has low levels of extra-pair paternity (in 6 % of broods). We show that male CP size sharply increased a few weeks before, and rapidly regressed after his partner laid eggs, consistent with a cost of its maintenance and/or sperm production. Surprisingly, despite low levels of extra-pair paternity, CP size of non-breeding and pre-breeding males was positively correlated with the number of breeding females in the population, suggesting that CP size is sensitive to extra-pair mating opportunities. However, CP sizes do not seem to reflect cuckoldry risk: CP size of dominant males was unaffected by the presence of a subordinate that was unrelated to the dominant female, although those subordinates occasionally sire offspring, and had a larger CP than subordinates living with their mother. Our results suggest that, even in a species with low levels of extra-pair paternity, individual investment in sperm storage reflects both within-pair and, albeit to lesser extent, extra-pair mating opportunities.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the staff of Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy for their superb logistical support, and our excellent team of field assistants. We thank Kaspar Delhey for comments on the manuscript. This research was funded by the Minerva Program for Women in Science of the Max Planck Society (to A.P.), and by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO; to S.A.K.).

Ethical standards

All fieldwork was performed with permission from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology Animal Ethics Committee, the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, the Western Australia Department of Conservation and Land Management (licenses BB002178 and BB002311), and the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (Authority 2230 and 2073).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Schlossallee 2, 78315, Radolfzell, Germany

    Sjouke A. Kingma, Michelle L. Hall & Anne Peters

  2. School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK

    Sjouke A. Kingma

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia

    Michelle L. Hall

  4. School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Anne Peters

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  1. Sjouke A. Kingma
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  2. Michelle L. Hall
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  3. Anne Peters
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Correspondence to Sjouke A. Kingma.

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Communicated by S. Pruett-Jones

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Kingma, S.A., Hall, M.L. & Peters, A. Sperm storage reflects within- and extra-pair mating opportunities in a cooperatively breeding bird. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 66, 1115–1123 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-012-1363-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-012-1363-y

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