Alternative male reproductive tactics in a natural population of prairie voles Microtus ochrogaster

Abstract

Alternative reproductive tactics have been described in male mammals, but little information exists regarding fitness benefits and whether males change tactics. Adult male prairie voles Microtus ochrogaster (Wagner, 1842) display alternative tactics described as resident and wanderer. Enclosure studies provide conflicting data concerning the relative success of each tactic and whether males display one tactic throughout adulthood. To characterize further residents and wanderers in this species, we examined data collected during 5 years of monitoring a natural population in Illinois, USA. We found that during the breeding period, wandering males survived longer, moved longer distances, and were more likely than residents to have scrotal testes. During the nonbreeding period, wandering and resident males differed only in whether or not they established residency. Data on sources and fates of resident and wandering males revealed that a substantial proportion of males switched tactics. Our estimate of the reproductive contribution of wandering males to the population, which is based on the premise that wandering males typically mate with single females, suggests that wanderers contribute 34–38% of young recruited during March through October and 4–12% in November, when single females are less common. Parentage studies in natural populations are necessary to test our estimates.