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Crocodilians Are Promiscuous But Not to the Benefit of Heterozygosity

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Conservation Genetics of New World Crocodilians

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Abstract

Crocodilian mating systems are complex but molecular genetics is providing some of the tools necessary to begin their unravelling. The most significant unravelling has been the widespread occurrence of multiple paternity (more than one sire for a clutch of eggs) across the global crocodilian species. The advantages of this strategy are still being debated and may differ across the different species, being dependent on factors such as population density and habitat availability at the individual population level. This chapter reviews the available literature outlining the impact other complexities such as nest site selection, the potential for communal nesting and “alloprotection” (non-biological female exhibiting nest guarding of conspecific eggs) could have on defining the mating strategies of crocodilians. However, it is argued that any advantage of genetic gain, genetic variability or inbreeding avoidance that might achieved by multiple paternity is overcome by low embryo and offspring survival leading to low recruitment rates into the adult breeding population. The limitations of experimental design are also discussed which may be leading to upwardly biased estimates of hypothetical sire numbers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Crocodile Research, Noonamah, Northern Territory, Australia

    Sally R. Isberg

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  1. Sally R. Isberg
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Correspondence to Sally R. Isberg .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratório de Genética de Populações e Evolução Molecular (GENEV), Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

    Rodrigo Barban Zucoloto

  2. Laboratorio de Genética, Departamento de Ciencias Naturales, Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias, Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Santa Fe, Argentina

    Patricia Susana Amavet

  3. CENA/LE²Ave, Universidade de São Paulo, Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil

    Luciano Martins Verdade

  4. Laboratório de Evolução e Genética Animal, Departamento de Genética, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

    Izeni Pires Farias

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Isberg, S.R. (2021). Crocodilians Are Promiscuous But Not to the Benefit of Heterozygosity. In: Zucoloto, R.B., Amavet, P.S., Verdade, L.M., Farias, I.P. (eds) Conservation Genetics of New World Crocodilians. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56383-7_6

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