Abstract
Abstract Apparently monogamous animals often prove, upon genetic inspection, to mate polygamously. Seahorse males provide care in a brood pouch. An earlier genetic study of the Western Australian seahorse demonstrated that males mate with only one female for each particular brood. Here we investigate whether males remain monogamous in sequential pregnancies during a breeding season. In a natural population we tagged males and sampled young from two successive broods of 14 males. Microsatellite analyses of parentage revealed that eight males re-mated with the same female, and six with a new female. Thus, in this first study to document long-term genetic monogamy in a seahorse, we show that switches of mates still occur. Polygynous males moved greater distances between broods, and tended to have longer interbrood intervals, than monogamous males, suggesting substantial costs associated with the breaking of pair bonds which may explain the high degree of social monogamy in this fish genus.
Highlights
Sexual selection on males and females is greatly inuenced by the relationship between the number of mating partners and the reproductive success of males and females (Andersson, 1994; Cunningham & Birkhead, 1998)
There are some examples of true monogamy
The present study focuses on determining whether the genetic mating system of seahorses conforms to expectations based on observed social monogamy in the genus
Summary
Sexual selection on males and females is greatly inuenced by the relationship between the number of mating partners and the reproductive success of males and females (Andersson, 1994; Cunningham & Birkhead, 1998). Genetic mating systems of natural populations were empirically inaccessible, but the introduction of molecular genetic techniques has provided important insights into the interpretation of behavioural data, enabling us to know the actual reproductive outcomes of observed social interactions (Avise, 1994; Ketterson et al, 1998; Coltman et al, 1999). Such techniques have become indispensable tools in the study of parentage in nature, of birds. In addition molecular techniques have been used to con®rm genetic monogamy in some nonavian taxa such as the California mouse (Ribble, 1991), Kirk's dik-dik (Brotherton et al, 1997), and the Western Australian seahorse (Jones et al, 1998)
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