Density drives polyandry and relatedness influences paternal success in the Pacific gooseneck barnacle, Pollicipes elegans.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Polyandry is a common mating strategy in animals, increasing female fitness through direct (material) and indirect (genetic) benefits. Most theories about the benefits of polyandry come from studies of terrestrial animals, which have relatively complex mating systems and behaviors; less is known about the potential benefits of polyandry in sessile marine animals, for which potential mates may be scarce and females have less control over pre-copulatory mate choice. Here, we used microsatellite markers to examine multiple paternity in natural aggregations of the Pacific gooseneck barnacle Pollicipes elegans, testing the effect of density on paternity and mate relatedness on male reproductive success.

Results

We found that multiple paternity was very common (79% of b

SUBMITTER: Plough LV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4021092 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature