THE CONTEXT-DEPENDENT EFFECT OF MULTIPLE PATERNITY ON EFFECTIVE POPULATION SIZE

• Published in: Evolution Vol. 65; no. 6; pp. 1693 - 1706
• Main Author: Lotterhos, Katie E.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.06.2011; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Animals; Computer Simulation; Evolution; Evolution & development; Evolutionary genetics; Female; Female animals; Females; Male; Male animals; Mating behavior; Mating Preference, Animal; Mating systems; Models, Biological; Multiple mating; Natural populations; Offspring; Pair Bond; Population; population bottlenecks; Population Density; Population distributions; Population growth; Population number; Population size; Reproduction; Reproductive success; sexual conflict; sexual selection; Simulation; simulations; sweepstakes
• ISSN: 0014-3820; 1558-5646; 1558-5646
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01249.x

Effective population size (N e ) is important because it describes how evolutionary forces will affect a population. The effect of multiple sires per female on N e has been the subject of some debate, at the crux of which is the effects of monandry and multiple-paternity (MP) on male variance in reproductive success. In both mating systems, females mate with several males over their lifetimes, but sire offspring with one male at a time in the former and have several sires per clutch in the latter. First, I theoretically show that whether the annual male variance in reproductive success in an MP population is greater or less than that of a monandrous population depends on the distributions of within-clutch paternity. Then, I simulated different distributions of within-clutch paternity under a range of parameters that characterize natural populations to show that an MP population can have an N e smaller or larger than that of a monandrous population with otherwise equal dynamics. The N e(MP) :N e(Monandry) ratio increased with mating frequency and female variance in reproductive success, was equalized by long generation times, and was affected by the distribution of within-clutch paternities. The results of this model provide a unifying framework for the debate.