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Influence of Male Dominance on Egg Testosterone and Antibacterial Substances in the Egg of Grey Partridges
Author(s) -
Grenna Marco,
Avidano Lorena,
Malacarne Giorgio,
Leboucher Gérard,
Cucco Marco
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ethology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.739
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1439-0310
pISSN - 0179-1613
DOI - 10.1111/eth.12189
Subject(s) - biology , oviparity , offspring , ovotransferrin , zoology , dominance (genetics) , testosterone (patch) , reproductive success , hatching , lysozyme , ecology , endocrinology , demography , pregnancy , population , genetics , sociology , gene
Maternal effects play an important role in mediating reproductive success; the different allocation of resources in eggs is considered a primary maternal effect. In oviparous vertebrates, there are several substances (hormones, immunoglobulins, antioxidants, antibacterial molecules) that females may allocate differentially. Mate choice is a key factor influencing female reproductive decisions and investment in eggs, but it is not clear to what extent the dominance status of the partner can influence the decision to invest differentially in the quality of eggs. In the grey partridge P erdix perdix , we ranked males for their social status after pairwise dominance tests. Then, females were paired experimentally with dominant or subordinate individuals. We measured testosterone, lysozyme and ovotransferrin concentrations in their eggs. Females paired with dominant males laid eggs with higher testosterone concentration, while egg mass, lysozyme and ovotransferrin concentrations did not differ. With regard to testosterone, because this hormone has been shown to elicit beneficial effects in offspring hatching from grey partridge eggs, our results are in line with the differential allocation hypothesis that females paired with high‐quality males should invest more in the current reproductive event.