week 2 - sperm comp. testes etc Flashcards
What 2 things influence the probability of offspring surviving to sexual maturity?
rate of development and survival (starvation predation)
what are the 3 main things that maximise a species reproductive success? as in a diagram
parenting
reproduction
development
what is the balancing investment? and which taxa are at the 2 ends of the spectrum?
producing gametes to parental care
aquatic invertebrates to mammals
what are the 2 modes of reproduction species can be?
r selected and k selected
how can males maximise their lifetime reproductive success?
maximise LRO
maximise number of mates
strong drive to polygyny
(there must be incentive for a male to be monogamous and stay and contribute to parental care rather than finding a new mate)
how can females maximise their life time reproductive success?
maximise survival of offspringg to sexual maturity - parenting
invest in egg and yolk nutrition
select fittest partner - sexual selection
maximise number of mates
strong drive to polyandry
sperm competition
what are the 2 main parental priorities?
maximise the number of offspring (as dictated by resources, trade off against parental role even K selected sp. want to do this)
keep offspring alive
what are the 5 ways parents can help to keep offspring alive?
ensure infants avoud starvation avoid predation ensure infants arent born into an overly competitive envirnoment (k selected at carrying capacity\) ensure infants dont die by misadventure ensure infants arent killed!
How can parents ensure infants avoid starvation?
ensure that there is sufficient food in the immediate environment:
before laying eggs / giving birth
before conceiving
food sufficiently renders animals sub/infertile and can terminate pregnancies
How can parents ensure infants avoid predation?
ensure offspring are cryptic
put offspring in a creche
guard offspring
dont produce offspring in the vicinity of predators
How can parents ensure infants avoid competition?
dont produce offspring in an over crowded / competitive environment
natural selection against runts - not enough teets deliberately produce too many kids so pick genetically weakest e.g. piglets
how can parents ensure infants avoid misadventure?
supervised play and training
how can parents ensure infants avoid being killed?
ensure infants are cryptic and guarded
social bonding with group members that might pose a threat - in baboons the biggest threat are other babboons
How long are parents useful to their offspring? (2)
until offspring achieve sexual maturity and can give rise to the F2 generation
until parents achieve reproductive senescence
what is the concept of extended family in matriarchal species?
aunt behaviour
extended family help look after
what 2 parental roles cannot be assumed by males?
nourish the embryo
lactate (mammals only)
which 3 parental roles can be assumed by males?
carry the embryo (“pregnant males”)
guard the embryo (eggs)
carry and guard neonate
example of pregnant males?
Sygnathidae fish see paper
example of incubating males
penguin
male guarding embryo mum goes off to feed
example of male carrying neonates
marmosets
when is sperm competition likely to occur?
if a female is inseminated by 2 or more males it creates the opportunity for sperm competition within the female
what 5 ways can a male win the sperm competition?
faster sperm - longer
high sperm number
repeated insemination of same female (drive towards monogamy)
optimise timing of insemination
exclude other sperm - break of penis or biochemical plug
give an example of how the sperm number varies in mammals? and evidence for high sperm number
sperm density million/ml
highest in ram at 3000 lowest in humans
what is a harem?
single reproductively active male, all offspring are sired by the harem holder it is an extreme case of mate guarding
example of a harem
hamadryas baboon
what are the 2 types of harem
patriarchal - male holds it together
matriarchal female chooses harem
what is infanticide?
killing of all offspring that arent your own when an alpha male dominates a new pack e.g. lions
what is the benefit of infanticide?
ensure that a male isnt wasting resources on offspring that he didnt sire
what is a lioness response to infanticide?
comes back into oestrous quicker and mates with new harem
what are the two mechanisms of mate guarding?
pre copulatory and post copulatory
what are mating plugs?
used to ensure paternity
block reproductive tract of female
what is the compex composition of mating plugs?
fatty acids
seminal proteins
anti reproductive molecules - supress her mating drive and kill any other sperm before new male deposits
paper example for copulatory plugs?
the orb weaver spider one
describe aquatic invertebrates male strategy
predomniantly external fertilisation
cephalopod molluscs e.g. octopus hectocotylus delivers the spermatophore into female mantle - more efficient / less sperm if internal fertilisation
describe aquatic vertebrates male strategy
fish and amphibians
predominantly external fertilisation
elasmobranchs - claspers deliver spermatophore into female cloaca
Terrestrial animals invertebrates practice _____ internal fertilisation as seen in arachnids or ____ internal fertilisationa s seen in insects
indirect
direct
terrestrial vertebrates always have direct internal fertilisation known as _____
insemination