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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access originally published online on February 2, 2007
Behavioral Ecology 2007 18(2):491-495; doi:10.1093/beheco/arm003
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Ejaculate allocation under varying sperm competition risk in the house mouse, Mus musculus domesticus

Steven A. Ramm and Paula Stockley

Mammalian Behaviour and Evolution Group, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Liverpool, Chester High Road, Neston CH64 7TE, UK

Address correspondence to S.A. Ramm. E-mail: sramm{at}liv.ac.uk.


  Abstract

A common mechanism through which males can enhance their success in postcopulatory contests over paternity is to inseminate more sperm than their rivals. However, ejaculate production is costly and the evolution of prudent sperm allocation strategies sensitive to variation in local levels of sperm competition has now been demonstrated in diverse taxa, including mammals. Theory predicts an increased sperm allocation in response to an elevated risk of sperm competition, but here we show that male house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) instead ejaculate fewer sperm per ejaculate when mating in the presence of a rival male. This surprising sperm allocation pattern may be a necessary consequence of adaptive changes in copulatory behavior, enabling males to achieve more rapid sperm transfer and/or to ejaculate repeatedly under risk of sexual competition. The size of a second ejaculate component, the copulatory plug, is unaffected by sperm competition risk. Our results highlight how the often complex interplay between different reproductive traits can affect the evolution of sperm competition phenotypes.

Key words: copulatory behavior, copulatory plug, mammals, sexual selection, sperm allocation.

Received 30 June 2006; revised 21 December 2006; accepted 3 January 2007.


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