Factors affecting the reproductive success of dominant male meerkats
Factors affecting the reproductive success of dominant male meerkats
复制标题
影响优势雄性猫鼬繁殖成功的因素
DOI：
10.1111/j.1365-294x.2008.03734.x
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发表时间：
2008
影响因子：
4.9
通讯作者：
T. Clutton‐Brock
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
G. Spong;S. J. Hodge;A. J. Young;T. Clutton‐Brock
识别影响个体繁殖成功的特征是我们理解进化过程的基础。在合作育种者，一个占主导地位的男性通常限制交配访问占主导地位的女性很长一段时间，导致男性之间的生殖成功的显着变化。这可能会导致对性状的强选择，这些性状增加了显性获得、显性保持和显性繁殖率的可能性。然而，尽管有相当多的研究生殖偏斜，很少有研究探讨的因素，影响这三个过程中的男性合作物种。在这里，我们使用遗传，行为和人口统计学数据，调查的因素影响生殖成功占主导地位的雄性猫鼬（Suricata suricatta）。我们的数据表明，占主导地位的男性父系的大多数存活到1年的后代。男性成为主导者的可能性受到年龄的强烈影响，但不受体重的影响。保有期长度和繁殖率，都是显性雄性繁殖成功的重要组成部分，在很大程度上受群体大小和组成的影响，而不是个体特征。在大群体中占主导地位的男性有较长的任期，但在这种影响被控制后，男性任期长度也呈负相关的成年女性在组中的数量。男性生殖率也随着组内和组外竞争者数量的增加而下降。由于处于支配地位的时间和支配地位时的繁殖率解释了繁殖成功总方差的80%以上，因此群体组成对雄性繁殖成功具有重要意义。
Identifying traits that affect the reproductive success of individuals is fundamental for our understanding of evolutionary processes. In cooperative breeders, a dominant male typically restricts mating access to the dominant female for extended periods, resulting in pronounced variation in reproductive success among males. This may result in strong selection for traits that increase the likelihood of dominance acquisition, dominance retention and reproductive rates while dominant. However, despite considerable research on reproductive skew, few studies have explored the factors that influence these three processes among males in cooperative species. Here we use genetic, behavioural and demographic data to investigate the factors affecting reproductive success in dominant male meerkats (Suricata suricatta). Our data show that dominant males sire the majority of all offspring surviving to 1 year. A male's likelihood of becoming dominant is strongly influenced by age, but not by weight. Tenure length and reproductive rate, both important components of dominant male reproductive success, are largely affected by group size and composition, rather than individual traits. Dominant males in large groups have longer tenures, but after this effect is controlled, male tenure length also correlates negatively to the number of adult females in the group. Male reproductive rate also declines as the number of intra‐ and extra‐group competitors increases. As the time spent in the dominant position and reproductive rate while dominant explain > 80% of the total variance in reproductive success, group composition thus has major implications for male reproductive success.