10.5061/DRYAD.RQ430
Phillips, Karl P.
University of East Anglia
University of Sheffield
Jorgensen, Tove H.
University of East Anglia
Aarhus University
Jolliffe, Kevin G.
Aarhus University
Joliffe, San-Marie
University of East Anglia
Henwood, Jock
Cousine Island; P.O. Box 977 Victoria Mahé Republic of Seychelles
Richardson, David S.
University of East Anglia
Data from: Reconstructing paternal genotypes to infer patterns of sperm
storage and sexual selection in the hawksbill turtle
Dryad
dataset
2013
Mating Systems
Paternity biases
Eretmochelys imbricata
marine turtles
relatedness
Heterozygosity
2013-01-07T17:11:55Z
2013-01-07T17:11:55Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.12235
549718 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Postcopulatory sperm storage can serve a range of functions, including
ensuring fertility, allowing delayed fertilization and facilitating sexual
selection. Sperm storage is likely to be particularly important in
wide-ranging animals with low population densities, but its prevalence and
importance in such taxa, and its role in promoting sexual selection, are
poorly known. Here, we use a powerful microsatellite array and paternal
genotype reconstruction to assess the prevalence of sperm storage and test
sexual selection hypotheses of genetic biases to paternity in one such
species, the critically endangered hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys
imbricata. In the majority of females (90.7%, N = 43), all offspring were
sired by a single male. In the few cases of multiple paternity (9.3%), two
males fertilized each female. Importantly, the identity and proportional
fertilization success of males were consistent across all sequential nests
laid by individual females over the breeding season (up to five nests over
75 days). No males were identified as having fertilized more than one
female, suggesting that a large number of males are available to females.
No evidence for biases to paternity based on heterozygosity or relatedness
was found. These results indicate that female hawksbill turtles are
predominantly monogamous within a season, store sperm for the duration of
the nesting season and do not re-mate between nests. Furthermore, females
do not appear to be using sperm storage to facilitate sexual selection.
Consequently, the primary value of storing sperm in marine turtles may be
to uncouple mating and fertilization in time and avoid costly re-mating.
Phillipsetal_MolEcol_hawksbillturtleMicrosoft Excel file with five sheets.
Sheet 1: hatchling microsatellite genotypes. Sheet 2: female genotypes.
Sheet 3: reconstructed genotypes of males. Sheet 4: list of which female
pairs with which male. Sheet 5: nest data - lay dates, numbers of eggs in
nests, number of undeveloped eggs.
Indian Ocean
Cousine Island
Republic of Seychelles