Literaturdatenbank
Literaturdatenbank |
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Verly, C. (2006). Does multiple paternity increase with female body size in the common map turtle (graptemys geographica)? Unpublished thesis B.Sc. Honours Degree, University of Ottawa, Ottawa.
Added by: Admin (14 Aug 2008 20:33:48 UTC) Last edited by: Beate Pfau (01 Jan 2011 17:22:28 UTC) |
| Resource type: Thesis/Dissertation BibTeX citation key: Verly2006a View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Emydidae, Fortpflanzung = reproduction, Genetik = genetics, Graptemys, Graptemys geographica, Habitat = habitat, Nordamerika = North America, Schildkröten = turtles + tortoises Creators: Verly Publisher: University of Ottawa (Ottawa) |
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| Abstract |
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Graptemys geographica In the common map turtle, females are much larger than males. In general, larger females can produce more and/or bigger offspring. It has also been shown that larger offspring survive better. Therefore, larger female map turtles should be more attractive to males. If males incur non-trivial costs of mating, such as missed opportunities or sperm limitation, they should mate preferentially with larger females. Accordingly, multiple paternity should be more common in larger females. To test this prediction, we captured 34 gravid females spanning the full size range of reproductive females and induced egg laying with oxytocin. We then collected blood samples from 338 hatchlings for paternity analyses. The number of sires was deducted from the paternal alleles at 3 microsatellite loci. Due to laboratory setbacks, only eight of the 34 clutches were analyzed. A third paternal allele was found only once, for one hatchling, at one locus. The fact that no strong evidence of multiple paternity was found is inconclusive. Low sample size, sub sampling the clutches and the low variability of the three microsatellite loci reduce the ability to detect multiples sires in a clutch. The question of multiple paternity augmenting with female body size in the common map turtle is left unanswered, but might soon come as the molecular laboratory work is almost sorted out: DNA extraction and PCRs are troubleshooted, and fragment analysis is soon to follow. Added by: Admin Last edited by: Beate Pfau |