Offspring sired by subordinate red deer males under controlled conditions: did some females prefer not to mate with the
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Offspring sired by subordinate red deer males under controlled conditions: did some females prefer not to mate with the alpha male? Javier Pérez-González 1,2
&
Juan Carranza 2
Received: 9 April 2019 / Revised: 18 December 2019 / Accepted: 28 January 2020 # ISPA, CRL 2020
Abstract Both male-male competition and female choice are important forces in sexual selection that may act in concert. In red deer (Cervus elaphus), rutting activities related to male-male competition are highly conspicuous and have received most research attention. However, there is increasing evidence that females can gain by selecting mates. Due to the additive genetic benefits of a sire’s dominance rank, females may prefer them as mates, so that selection for male traits associated with dominance can be reinforced by female choice. On the other hand, recent evidence suggests that females might prefer male features not related to dominance and thus affect the distribution of mating outcomes. This predicts mating with less dominant males, but no study has so far investigated to which extent some females may do so when the dominant male is available. Here we use controlled captivity conditions to study whether females mate with subordinate males when dominant males are present. By means of parentage analyses conducted after genotyping the offspring, we found that dominant males did not sire all the offspring, the mean percentage of offspring sired by subordinate males being 13.03%. This result has consequences for the evolutionary reinforcement of components of sexual selection in red deer and might be used as a starting point for future studies on the red deer mating system and sexual selection. Keywords Sexual selection . Dominance . Female choice . Male competition . Parentage . Cervus elaphus
Introduction Sexual selection is a powerful evolutionary force (Darwin 1871). Both male-male competition and female choice lead to the development of elaborate traits such as armaments and ornaments (Anderson 1994). Male competition and female choice operate in such a way that any sexual trait evolves depending on the interaction of several processes acting in the same or different directions (Hunt et al. 2009). Even in polygynous mammals, where male-male competition Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-020-00336-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Javier Pérez-González [email protected] 1
Biology & Ethology Unit, Department of Anatomy, Cellular Biology and Zoology, University of Extremadura, Cáceres, Spain
2
Ungulate Research Unit, Cátedra de Recursos Cinegéticos y Piscícolas (CRCP), University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain
promotes the evolution of male armaments such as tusks, horns or antlers (Emlen 2008), female choice may have an important role in how these traits evolve (Ditchkoff et al. 2001; Malo et al. 2005). Male competition and female choice may act in concert, independently, or in opposition, and this is a critical is
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