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

Zeng, Y; Lou, SL; Liao, WB; Jehle, R

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.

Citation

roles of mating system and spawning location. BMC Evolutionary Biology, 14(104), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-14-104

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 2, 2014
• Online Publication Date: May 15, 2014
• Publication Date: May 15, 2014
• Deposit Date: May 15, 2014
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 7, 2019
• Journal: BMC Evolutionary Biology
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 104
• Pages: 1-27
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-14-104
• Keywords: Anurans, mating system, spawning location, sperm morphology, sperm competition, testes mass
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2148-14-104
• Related Public URLs: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcevolbiol/
• Additional Information: Funders : National Natural Sciences Foundation of China;Sichuan Province Outstanding Youth Academic Technology Leaders Program;Innovative Team Foundation of China West Normal University; Grant Number: 31101633; Grant Number: 2013JQ0016