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Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on February 13, 2007
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arm001
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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

Extrapair paternity and the opportunity for sexual selection in long-distant migratory passerines

Tomás Albrechta,b, Jan Schnitzerb, Jakub Kreisingerb, Alice Exnerováb, Josef Bryjaa and Pavel Munclingerb,c

a Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, CZ-675 02, Studenec 122, Czech Republic b Department of Zoology, Faculty of Sciences, Charles University in Prague, CZ-128 44, Prague, Czech Republic c Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Veverí 97, CZ-60200 Brno, Czech Republic

Address correspondence to T. Albrecht. E-mail: albrecht{at}ivb.cz.


  Abstract

Extrapair fertilizations (EPFs) are frequently documented in songbirds; however, the extent to which this reproductive tactic contributes to variance in male reproductive success and hence the strength of sexual selection on males remains little studied. Using 2 approaches, intraspecific and comparative, we test the hypothesis that the contribution of EPFs to variance in male fitness increases with migration distance in north temperate songbirds. Using data on the genetic mating system of the scarlet rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus, a long-distance migrant, we show that the number of extrapair mates and within-pair paternity are the most important components of variance in male reproductive success. There was no evidence of a trade-off between extrapair and within-pair success of individual males as males successful in procuring EPFs were less likely to be cuckolded. Comparative data reveal that the opportunity for sexual selection due to EPFs is positively associated with both migration distance and breeding synchrony in north temperate passerines, and we discuss several mechanisms that could extend these relationships. In general, these data suggest that EPFs have a potential to play an important role in the evolution of sexually selected traits in long-distance migratory songbirds such as rosefinches.

Key words: comparative analysis, mate choice, parentage assignment, promiscuity, scarlet rosefinch Carpodacus erythrinus, within-pair paternity.

Received 16 February 2006; revised 23 December 2006; accepted 2 January 2007.


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