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Factors affecting male and female reproductive success in a chipmunk (Tamias sibiricus) with a scramble competition mating system

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Abstract

While sexual selection in mammals with female defense systems has historically received considerable attention, much less is known about the factors affecting reproductive success in mammalian species with scramble competition mating systems. Using mark–recapture techniques and DNA microsatellite loci to assign parentage, we examined the mating system and factors affecting the variation of the annual reproductive success in an introduced population of the Siberian chipmunk, Tamias sibiricus, a small, monomorphic, solitary squirrel. Our analyses showed that breeding females were spatially dispersed, setting the stage for a scramble competition mating system. Male reproductive success was positively associated with the size of the home range. The strength of sexual selection on this behavioral trait was very strong, equaling previous estimates for morphological traits in female defense mating systems. These findings suggest that a behavioral trait, space use, strongly influences the annual reproductive success in males, which is consistent with expectations in a scramble competition mating system. In both sexes, reproductive success was influenced by habitat, with twice as many juveniles produced in semi-open than in closed habitat, possibly due to differences in food availability between the two habitats.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank David Laloi, Denis Réale, and three anonymous referees for their thoughtful comments that improved the manuscript. Funds were received from the Région Ile-de-France, the Conseil Général des Hauts-de-Seine, and the Office National des Forêts. We thank G. Spagnol (ONF), for his help in the field and M. Devès for her help in the laboratory.

Ethical standards

All conducted experiments complied with the current laws of France.

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Author notes

  1. Gwenaël Jacob

    Present address: Department of Biology, Unit of Ecology & Evolution, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Musée 10, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Conservation des Espèces, Restauration et Suivi des Populations, UMR 7204 MNHN-CNRS-P6, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 61 rue Buffon, 75005, Paris, France

    Julie Marmet, Benoît Pisanu & Jean-Louis Chapuis

  2. Laboratoire Ecologie, Systématique et Evolution, CNRS-UMR 8079, Université Paris-Sud, 91405, Orsay Cedex, France

    Gwenaël Jacob & Emmanuelle Baudry

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  1. Julie Marmet
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  2. Benoît Pisanu
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  4. Gwenaël Jacob
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Correspondence to Emmanuelle Baudry.

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Communicated by A. I Schulte-Hostedde

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Marmet, J., Pisanu, B., Chapuis, JL. et al. Factors affecting male and female reproductive success in a chipmunk (Tamias sibiricus) with a scramble competition mating system. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 66, 1449–1457 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-012-1399-z

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