Keywords

Ground squirrels -- Africa -- Morphology, Ground squirrels -- Africa -- Reproduction, Ground squirrels -- Behavior -- Africa, Ground squirrels -- Physiology -- Africa, Sexual selection in animals, Sperm competition

Abstract

Sexual selection is considered a powerful evolutionary force responsible for the enormous diversity found in reproductive morphology, physiology, and behavior. I addressed questions related to selection in the Cape ground squirrel (Xerus inauris), a species characterized as highly social and promiscuous. These attributes often are responsible for variance in male reproductive success and as such, sexual selection theory predicts increased opportunity for sexual selection. I confirm that the predominant mechanism underlying genital evolution and competition for paternity in X. inauris is sperm competition. I find evidence that investment in sperm competition is costly and may reflect immunocompetence. I quantify reproductive success as it relates to alternative male tactics and female resource distribution. I find that male X. inauris alternative reproductive tactics differ within and across populations most likely due to differences in female resource distribution. In areas where females are evenly distributed, dispersed males encounter more estrous females, and therefore have increased breeding opportunities. However, the decision to remain natal does not preclude reproduction. I determine that these tactics are most likely conditional with equal fitness payoffs. Males, regardless of tactic, invest more in post-copulatory competition (e.g. sperm competition, copulatory plugs) than males within a population with a clustered distribution of breeding females. In the latter area, males form dominance hierarchies that affect copulatory success and lead to greater skews in reproduction among males. Both sites have evidence of a highly skewed variance in reproduction and intense sexual selective pressure. My results suggest these populations have increased opportunities for selection but that different mechanisms of intrasexual competition may result in rapid evolutionary change within this species.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2010

Semester

Fall

Advisor

Waterman, Jane

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Biological Sciences

Degree Program

Conservation Biology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0003400

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0003400

Language

English

Release Date

December 2010

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

Subjects

Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences, Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic

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