Multiple hypotheses explain variation in extra-pair paternity at different levels in a single bird family

Authors

Lyanne Brouwer, Australian National UniversityFollow
Martijn van de Pol, Netherlands Institute of Ecology NIOO-KNAWFollow
Nataly Hidalgo Aranzamendi, Monash UniversityFollow
Glen Bain, University of MelbourneFollow
Daniel T. Baldassarre, Princeton UniversityFollow
Lesley C. Brooker, Gooseberry Hill, WA, AustraliaFollow
Michael G. Brooker, Gooseberry Hill, WA, AustraliaFollow
Diane Diane Colombelli-Négrel, Flinders University, AdelaideFollow
Erik Enbody, Tulane UniversityFollow
Kurt Gielow, Cornell UniversityFollow
Michelle L. Hall, University of MelbourneFollow
Allison E. Johnson, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Jordan Karubian, Tulane UniversityFollow
Sjouke A. Kingma, Max Planck Institute for OrnithologyFollow
Sonia Kleindorfer, Flinders University, AdelaideFollow
Marina Louter, Flinders University, Adelaide
Raoul A. Mulder, University of MelbourneFollow
Anne Peters, Monash UniversityFollow
Stephen Pruett-Jones, The University of ChicagoFollow
Keith A. Tarvin, Oberlin CollegeFollow
Derrick J. Thrasher, Cornell UniversityFollow
Claire W. Varian-Ramos, Colorado State University - PuebloFollow
Michael S. Webster, Cornell UniversityFollow
Andrew Cockburn, Australian National UniversityFollow

ORCID IDs

Lyanne Brouwer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6728-4851

Martijn van de Pol https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4102-4079

Jordan Karubian http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8201-9992

Sonia Kleindorfer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5130-3122

Derrick J. Thrasher http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0381-4945

Allison Johnson http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6447-3179

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

10-25-2017

Citation

Published in Molecular Ecology 26 (2017), pp 6717–6729.

DOI: 10.1111/mec.14385

Comments

Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Used by permission.

Abstract

Extra-pair paternity (EPP), where offspring are sired by a male other than the social male, varies enormously both within and among species. Trying to explain this variation has proved difficult because the majority of the interspecific variation is phylogenetically based. Ideally, variation in EPP should be investigated in closely related species, but clades with sufficient variation are rare. We present a comprehensive multifactorial test to explain variation in EPP among individuals in 20 populations of nine species over 89 years from a single bird family (Maluridae). Females had higher EPP in the presence of more helpers, more neighbors or if paired incestuously. Furthermore, higher EPP occurred in years with many incestuous pairs, populations with many helpers and species with high male density or in which males provide less care. Altogether, these variables accounted for 48% of the total and 89% of the interspecific and interpopulation variation in EPP. These findings indicate why consistent patterns in EPP have been so challenging to detect and suggest that a single predictor is unlikely to account for the enormous variation in EPP across levels of analysis. Nevertheless, it also shows that existing hypotheses can explain the variation in EPP well and that the density of males in particular is a good predictor to explain variation in EPP among species when a large part of the confounding effect of phylogeny is excluded.

Supplementary files attached below.