Male red deer antlers honestly signal sperm traits that determine fertility in natural populations

  1. Roldan Shutch, Eduardo 2
  2. Malo Valenzuela, Aurelio Francisco 2
  3. Gomendio, Montserrat 2
  4. Garde, J.J. 1
  5. Soler, A.J. 1
  6. García, A.J. 1
  1. 1 Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos
    info

    Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos

    Ciudad Real, España

    ROR https://ror.org/0140hpe71

  2. 2 Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales
    info

    Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/02v6zg374

Actas:
4th Joint meeting of the British Fertility Society, British Andrology Society and the Society for Human Reproduction. Fertility 2005

Año de publicación: 2005

Congreso: 4th Joint meeting of the British Fertility Society, British Andrology Society and the Society for Human Reproduction. Fertility 2005. Warwick, 2-6 April 2005

Tipo: Aportación congreso

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Resumen

Introduction. Male reproductive success is determined by the ability of males to gain sexual access to females, and by their ability to fertilize ova. However, the possibility that males may differ in their fertility has been largely ignored, under the assumption that male infertility is rare in natural populations because selection against it is likely to be strong. Methods. In this study we examined which semen traits correlate with male fertility in natural populations of Iberian red deer. Results and discussion. In a fertility trial using artificial insemination, our results showed that, when sperm numbers were kept constant, there was a large degree of variation in male fertility. Differences in fertility were mainly determined by sperm swimming velocity and, to a lesser extent, by the proportion of morphologically normal sperm. We also found that relative antler size and complexity was associated with relative testes size and sperm velocity. Thus, red deer antlers signal male fertility (Resumen publicado en: "Abstracts from Fertility 2005 (4th Joint meeting of the British Fertility Society, British Andrology Society and the Society for Human Reproduction) Warwick, 2 – 6 April 2005", Human Fertility, June 2005; 8(2), pp. 99-158).