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Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island

Hazel Nichols Orcid Logo, B. Fuchs, A. J. Paijmans Orcid Logo, G. Lewis, C. A. Bonin Orcid Logo, M. E. Goebel Orcid Logo, J. I. Hoffman Orcid Logo

Journal of Zoology, Volume: 316, Issue: 2, Pages: 104 - 117

Swansea University Author: Hazel Nichols Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1111/jzo.12936

Abstract

Intraspecific variation in animal mating systems can have important implications for ecological, evolutionary and demographic processes in wild populations. For example, patterns of mating can impact social structure, dispersal, effective population size and inbreeding. However, few species have bee...

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Published in: Journal of Zoology
ISSN: 0952-8369 1469-7998
Published: Wiley 2022
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58796
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However, few species have been studied in sufficient detail to elucidate mating system plasticity and its dependence on ecological and demographic factors. Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) have long been regarded as a textbook example of a polygynous mating system, with dominant &#x2018;beachmaster&#x2019; males controlling harems of up to several hundred females. However, behavioural and genetic studies have uncovered appreciable geographic variation in the strength of polygyny among elephant seal populations. We, therefore, used molecular parentage analysis to investigate patterns of parentage in a small satellite colony of elephant seals at the South Shetland Islands. We hypothesised that dominant males would be able to successfully monopolise the relatively small numbers of females present in the colony, leading to relatively high levels of polygyny. A total of 424 individuals (comprising 33 adult males, 101 adult females and 290 pups) sampled over 8 years were genotyped at 20 microsatellites and reproductive success was analysed by genetically assigning parents. Paternity could only be assigned to 31 pups (10.7%), despite our panel of genetic markers being highly informative and the genotyping error rate being very low. The strength of inferred polygyny was weak in comparison to previous genetic studies of the same species, with the most successful male fathering only seven pups over the entire course of our study. 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spelling 2022-03-16T12:23:57.0590066 v2 58796 2021-11-26 Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe 0000-0002-4455-6065 Hazel Nichols Hazel Nichols true false 2021-11-26 SBI Intraspecific variation in animal mating systems can have important implications for ecological, evolutionary and demographic processes in wild populations. For example, patterns of mating can impact social structure, dispersal, effective population size and inbreeding. However, few species have been studied in sufficient detail to elucidate mating system plasticity and its dependence on ecological and demographic factors. Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) have long been regarded as a textbook example of a polygynous mating system, with dominant ‘beachmaster’ males controlling harems of up to several hundred females. However, behavioural and genetic studies have uncovered appreciable geographic variation in the strength of polygyny among elephant seal populations. We, therefore, used molecular parentage analysis to investigate patterns of parentage in a small satellite colony of elephant seals at the South Shetland Islands. We hypothesised that dominant males would be able to successfully monopolise the relatively small numbers of females present in the colony, leading to relatively high levels of polygyny. A total of 424 individuals (comprising 33 adult males, 101 adult females and 290 pups) sampled over 8 years were genotyped at 20 microsatellites and reproductive success was analysed by genetically assigning parents. Paternity could only be assigned to 31 pups (10.7%), despite our panel of genetic markers being highly informative and the genotyping error rate being very low. The strength of inferred polygyny was weak in comparison to previous genetic studies of the same species, with the most successful male fathering only seven pups over the entire course of our study. Our results show that, even in a species long regarded as a model for extreme polygyny, male reproductive skew can vary substantially among populations. Journal Article Journal of Zoology 316 2 104 117 Wiley 0952-8369 1469-7998 beachmaster, mating system plasticity, Mirounga leonina, polygyny, reproductive skew, Southern elephant seal 14 2 2022 2022-02-14 10.1111/jzo.12936 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University Other US Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Grant Number: NA16SEC4810007; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. Grant Numbers: 424119118, 316099922, 396774617–TRR 212; Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung; National Science Foundation. Grant Number: 2000211; ProjektDEAL 2022-03-16T12:23:57.0590066 2021-11-26T13:00:55.9058249 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Hazel Nichols 0000-0002-4455-6065 1 B. Fuchs 2 A. J. Paijmans 0000-0002-5481-7337 3 G. Lewis 4 C. A. Bonin 0000-0003-1162-7290 5 M. E. Goebel 0000-0001-6664-8684 6 J. I. Hoffman 0000-0001-5895-8949 7 58796__21699__119f624f5ced4298b8c0da6b29e148a9.pdf jzo.12936.pdf 2021-11-26T13:00:55.8876618 Output 1730176 application/pdf Version of Record true This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island
spellingShingle Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island
Hazel Nichols
title_short Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island
title_full Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island
title_fullStr Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island
title_full_unstemmed Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island
title_sort Where are the beachmasters? Unexpectedly weak polygyny among southern elephant seals on a South Shetland Island
author_id_str_mv 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe
author_id_fullname_str_mv 43ba12986bd7754484874c73eed0ebfe_***_Hazel Nichols
author Hazel Nichols
author2 Hazel Nichols
B. Fuchs
A. J. Paijmans
G. Lewis
C. A. Bonin
M. E. Goebel
J. I. Hoffman
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container_start_page 104
publishDate 2022
institution Swansea University
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doi_str_mv 10.1111/jzo.12936
publisher Wiley
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
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department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
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description Intraspecific variation in animal mating systems can have important implications for ecological, evolutionary and demographic processes in wild populations. For example, patterns of mating can impact social structure, dispersal, effective population size and inbreeding. However, few species have been studied in sufficient detail to elucidate mating system plasticity and its dependence on ecological and demographic factors. Southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) have long been regarded as a textbook example of a polygynous mating system, with dominant ‘beachmaster’ males controlling harems of up to several hundred females. However, behavioural and genetic studies have uncovered appreciable geographic variation in the strength of polygyny among elephant seal populations. We, therefore, used molecular parentage analysis to investigate patterns of parentage in a small satellite colony of elephant seals at the South Shetland Islands. We hypothesised that dominant males would be able to successfully monopolise the relatively small numbers of females present in the colony, leading to relatively high levels of polygyny. A total of 424 individuals (comprising 33 adult males, 101 adult females and 290 pups) sampled over 8 years were genotyped at 20 microsatellites and reproductive success was analysed by genetically assigning parents. Paternity could only be assigned to 31 pups (10.7%), despite our panel of genetic markers being highly informative and the genotyping error rate being very low. The strength of inferred polygyny was weak in comparison to previous genetic studies of the same species, with the most successful male fathering only seven pups over the entire course of our study. Our results show that, even in a species long regarded as a model for extreme polygyny, male reproductive skew can vary substantially among populations.
published_date 2022-02-14T04:15:37Z
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