Sex, shells, and weaponry: coercive reproductive tactics in the painted turtle, Chrysemys picta
| العنوان: | Sex, shells, and weaponry: coercive reproductive tactics in the painted turtle, Chrysemys picta |
|---|---|
| المؤلفون: | Patrick D. Moldowan, Jacqueline D. Litzgus, Ronald J. Brooks |
| المصدر: | Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 74 |
| بيانات النشر: | Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020. |
| سنة النشر: | 2020 |
| مصطلحات موضوعية: | 0106 biological sciences, Courtship display, Reproductive success, media_common.quotation_subject, 05 social sciences, Zoology, Biology, Mating system, biology.organism_classification, 010603 evolutionary biology, 01 natural sciences, Sexual conflict, Courtship, Mate choice, behavior and behavior mechanisms, 0501 psychology and cognitive sciences, Animal Science and Zoology, 050102 behavioral science & comparative psychology, Mating, Painted turtle, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, media_common |
| الوصف: | Males and females have divergent reproductive interests arising from their unequal investments in offspring. This sexual conflict drives an antagonistic arms race that influences sex-specific reproductive success. Alternative reproductive tactics are expected in long-lived species for which the reproductive strategy that maximizes mating success could differ across body sizes. The mating strategy of the painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) has been characterized as an elaborate and amiable male courtship display during which males use their elongate foreclaws to stroke females, coupled with female mate choice. Contrary to this long-held understanding, in situ field observations and experimental trials from our long-term study in Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada, demonstrate that males also exhibit an alternative, coercive mating strategy. Males are equipped with sexually size dimorphic tomiodonts, tooth-like cusps of the beak, as well as a weaponized anterior shell, with which they wound the head and neck of females. Behavioral trials during the breeding periods showed that male reproductive tactics shift from courtship (foreclaw display) to coercion (striking, biting, and forced submergence) across ontogeny, and male size predicts the occurrence and frequency of coercive behavior. We found phenotype-behavior matching whereby small males invest in putatively ornamental foreclaws used for courtship and large males invest in weaponry for coercion, challenging existing knowledge of this well-studied species. As a group with a long evolutionary history and varied mating systems, Testudines are a particularly interesting taxon in which to ask questions about mating system evolution. Alternative reproductive tactics are hypothesized for long-lived species. We quantified a shift from apparent courtship to coercive tactics during the reproductive lifespan of a well-studied freshwater turtle. Male painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) have sexual weapons that are used to promote female acquiescence. Using behavioral trials with turtles from a long-term study population, we demonstrate that males match their morphology (ornament/weapons) to reproductive behavior (courtship/coercion) as their reproductive tactics shift. Our findings hint at the behavioral complexity of aquatic turtles, a challenging and often-overlooked group in behavioral studies. |
| تدمد: | 1432-0762 0340-5443 |
| URL الوصول: | https://explore.openaire.eu/search/publication?articleId=doi_________::ff847cedaab29ba9114f04460fc5cc05 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-02926-w |
| حقوق: | CLOSED |
| رقم الأكسشن: | edsair.doi...........ff847cedaab29ba9114f04460fc5cc05 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | OpenAIRE |
Find this article in full text from Springer Verlag. | تدمد: | 14320762 03405443 |
|---|