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Extra-pair paternity in two sympatric Aegithalos tits: patterns and implications

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Abstract

The explanation for extra-pair paternity (EPP) variation continues to attract research interest in the area of avian breeding systems. Comparisons among closely related species are recommended to explore factors that affect EPP rate variations. We utilised microsatellite markers to investigate extra-pair paternity in two sympatric populations of congeneric Black-throated Tits, Aegithalos concinnus, and Silver-throated Tits, A. glaucogularis. The two species share a similar breeding period at our study site and have helpers during breeding at some nests. The results suggest that the two species had low levels of extra-pair paternity: 5.7 % of the offspring in the Black-throated Tits and 6.8 % of the offspring in the Silver-throated Tits. The proportion of broods with extra-pair paternity in the Silver-throated Tits (33.3 %) was higher overall than the Black-throated Tits (17.2 %). This difference is consistent with the prediction by their different male attendance of incubation, but failed to be explained by major ecological factors. On the one hand, we conducted the study at the same site during the same time, which therefore limited the potential effect of different environmental conditions and habitat on their EPP incidence. On the other hand, other factors such as the inter-nest distances failed to explain the observed pattern. Current results also could not rule out an effect of evolutionary history on the EPP patterns of these two related species. Our research on their cooperative breeding system found a low proportion of cooperative breeding nests with offspring sired by helpers (Black-throated Tit, 8.3 % and Silver-throated Tit, 25.0 %), indicating that a direct reproductive benefit is not a likely major reason for the existence of the helpers in these two species.

Zusammenfassung

Fremdvaterschaften bei zwei sympatrisch vorkommenden Aegithalos -Arten: Muster und Schlussfolgerungen

Die Erklärung der Variation von Fremdvaterschaften zieht nach wie vor das Forschungsinteresse im Bereich der Brutsysteme von Vögeln auf sich. Zur Analyse der Faktoren, die Variationen im Anteil von Fremdvaterschaften beeinflussen, wird der Vergleich von nah verwandten Arten empfohlen. Mittels Mikrosatellitenmarkern untersuchten wir Fremdvaterschaften bei zwei sympatrisch vorkommenden Populationen gattungsverwandter Schwarzkehl-Schwanzmeisen Aegithalos concinnus und Silberkehl-Schwanzmeisen A. glaucogularis. Beide Arten brüten in unserem Untersuchungsgebiet zu ähnlichen Zeiten und haben Bruthelfer an manchen Nestern. Unsere Ergebnisse legen nahe, dass es bei beiden Arten nur einen geringen Anteil an Fremdvaterschaften gibt: 5,7 % des Nachwuchses der Schwarzkehl-Schwanzmeisen und 6,8 % der jungen Silberkehl-Schwanzmeisen. Der Anteil von Bruten mit Fremdvaterschaften war bei den Silberkehl-Schwanzmeisen (33,3 %) insgesamt höher als bei den Schwarzkehl-Schwanzmeisen (17,2 %). Dieser Unterschied deckt sich mit den Erwartungen aufgrund der verschiedenen Anteile der Männchen beim Brüten, ließ sich aber nicht durch die hauptsächlichen ökologischen Faktoren erklären. Einerseits wurde die Studie am selben Ort über denselben Zeitraum durchgeführt, wodurch der mögliche Einfluss verschiedener Umweltbedingungen und des Habitats auf den Anteil der Fremdvaterschaften eingeschränkt wurde. Andererseits konnten weitere Faktoren, wie beispielsweise die Abstände der Nester zueinander, das beobachtete Muster nicht erklären. Der derzeitige Ergebnisstand schließt also einen Effekt der Evolutionsgeschichte auf die Muster der Fremdvaterschaften bei diesen beiden verwandten Arten nicht aus. Unsere Untersuchungen an ihren kooperativen Brutsystemen ergaben einen geringen Anteil von den Helfern gezeugter Nachkommen in Nestern mit kooperativer Brut (Schwarzkehl-Schwanzmeise, 8,3 % und Silberkehl-Schwanzmeise, 25,0 %), was darauf hindeutet, dass ein direkter reproduktiver Vorteil vermutlich keine große Bedeutung für die Existenz von Helfern bei diesen zwei Arten hat.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 31101644; No. 31272296), and USDA Evens-Allen grant through Alabama A&M University. Yong Wang’s research in China was supported by funds from Beijing Normal University and Alabama A&M University. We are most grateful to the field assistants, the members of bird study group of Beijing Normal University and the staffs of Dongzhai National Nature Reserve for their great help with the work and Shou-Hsien Li, Ning Wang, Yang Liu, Xiangjiang Zhan, Langyu Gu, Deborah Dawson for their valuable suggestions and/or assistance to the laboratory work. We also thank Andrew Cantrell and anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments on the manuscript. Our research abided by the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Wildlife (Aug 28, 2004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Sciences and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Jianqiang Li, Yingying Liu, Yong Wang & Zhengwang Zhang

  2. Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, School of Agricultural, Life and Natural Sciences, Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL, 35762, USA

    Jianqiang Li & Yong Wang

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  1. Jianqiang Li
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  2. Yingying Liu
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  3. Yong Wang
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Correspondence to Zhengwang Zhang.

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Communicated by T. Friedl.

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Li, J., Liu, Y., Wang, Y. et al. Extra-pair paternity in two sympatric Aegithalos tits: patterns and implications. J Ornithol 155, 83–90 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-013-0989-5

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