Sperm morphology and count vary with fine-scale changes in local density in a wild lizard population.

ABSTRACT: Given that sperm production can be costly, theory predicts that males should optimally adjust the quantity and/or quality of their sperm in response to their social environment to maximize their paternity success. Although experiments demonstrate that males can alter their ejaculates in response to manipulations of the social environment and studies show that ejaculate traits covary with social environment across populations, it is unknown whether individual variation in sperm traits corresponds to natural variation found within wild populations. Using an island population of brown anole lizards (Anolis sagrei), we tested the prediction that sperm traits (sperm count, sperm morphology, sperm velocity) respond to natural variation in the risk of sperm competition, as inferred from the local

SUBMITTER: Kustra MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6825022 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature