Evolution of sperm morphology in anurans : Insights into the roles of mating system and spawning location

Zeng, Y, Lou, SL, Liao, WB and Jehle, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0545-5664 2014, 'Evolution of sperm morphology in anurans : Insights into the roles of mating system and spawning location' , BMC Evolutionary Biology, 14 (104) , pp. 1-27.

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Abstract

Background: The degree of postcopulatory sexual selection, comprising variable degrees of sperm competition and cryptic female choice, is an important evolutionary force to influence sperm form and function. Here we investigated the effects of mating system and spawning location on the evolution of sperm morphology in 67 species of Chinese anurans. We also examined how relative testes mass as an indicator of the level of sperm competition affected variation in sperm morphology across a subset of 29 species. Results: We found a significant association of mating system and spawning location with sperm morphology. However, when removing the effects of body mass or absolute testes mass for species for which such data were available, this effect became non-significant. Consistent with predictions from sperm competition theory, we found a positive correlation between sperm morphology and relative testes mass after taking phylogeny into account. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that sexual selection in Chinese anurans favors longer sperm when the level of sperm competition is high. Pre-copulatory male-male competition and spawning location, on the other hand, do not affect the evolution of sperm morphology after taking body mass and absolute testes mass into account.

Item Type:	Article
Schools:	Schools > School of Environment and Life Sciences > Ecosystems and Environment Research Centre Schools > School of Environment and Life Sciences
Journal or Publication Title:	BMC Evolutionary Biology
Publisher:	BioMed Central
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	1471-2148
Related URLs:	http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcevolbiol...
Funders:	National Natural Sciences Foundation of China, Sichuan Province Outstanding Youth Academic Technology Leaders Program, Innovative Team Foundation of China West Normal University
Depositing User:	S Rafiq
Date Deposited:	15 May 2014 10:51
Last Modified:	15 Feb 2022 18:33
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/31827

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