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Environmental, social, morphological, and behavioral constraints on opportunistic multiple paternity

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Abstract

Multiple mating and multiple paternity in polytocous species have been mostly studied from an adaptive (i.e., cost–benefit) perspective. Disease, time, energy, and the risk of injuries are well-known costs of multiple mating, yet from both male and female perspectives, a number of genetic and non-genetic benefits have also been identified. The effects of environmental conditions and individual-specific behavior, however, are much less well understood. Using a long-term study on yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris), we evaluated the impacts of environmental variation, social structure, female body mass, and female docility (a personality trait) on the occurrence of multiple paternity. Multiple paternity was influenced by environmental constraints, social constraints, a female’s personality, and her body mass at emergence from hibernation. Personality and mass effects were detected only when environmental or social conditions were favorable. Our results suggest that multiple paternity is mainly limited by the opportunity to have access to multiple mates and is influenced by costs or mate choice because heavier females were more likely to have litters with multiple sires than smaller ones. Future studies in other species might benefit from considering environmental constraints when studying multiple paternity.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Billy Barr for providing snow depth and the date of first sighting of marmots at Gothic, Colorado. JGAM was supported by a FRQNT postdoctoral fellowship and the NSF. MBP was supported by a GAANN fellowship and the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. DTB was supported by the National Geographic Society, UCLA (Faculty Senate and the Division of Life Sciences), a Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory research fellowship, and by the NSF (IDBR-0754247 and DEB-1119660 to DTB as well as DBI 0242960 and 0731346 to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory). We are grateful to the editor and three anonymous referees whose comments helped us improve our paper.

Ethical standards

The research was in compliance with ethical guidelines and the current laws of the USA. Marmots were studied under protocols approved by the UCLA and the RMBL Animal Use and Care Committees and under permits issued annually by the Colorado Division of Wildlife.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 621 Young Drive South, Los Angeles, CA, 90095-1606, USA

    Julien G. A. Martin, Matthew B. Petelle & Daniel T. Blumstein

  2. The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Box 519, Crested Butte, CO, 81224, USA

    Julien G. A. Martin, Matthew B. Petelle & Daniel T. Blumstein

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Zoology Building, Tillydrone Avenue, Aberdeen, Scotland, AB24 2TZ, UK

    Julien G. A. Martin

Authors
  1. Julien G. A. Martin
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  2. Matthew B. Petelle
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Correspondence to Julien G. A. Martin.

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Communicated by C. Soulsbury

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Martin, J.G.A., Petelle, M.B. & Blumstein, D.T. Environmental, social, morphological, and behavioral constraints on opportunistic multiple paternity. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 68, 1531–1538 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1762-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1762-3

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