How attractive is the girl next door? An assessment of spatial mate acquisition and paternity in the solitary Cape dune mole-Rat, Bathyergus suillus

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dc.contributor.authorBray, Timothy Cen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBloomer, Pauletteen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorO'Riain, M Justinen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBennett, Nigel Cen_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-16T04:14:14Z
dc.date.available2015-11-16T04:14:14Z
dc.date.issued2012en_ZA
dc.description.abstractBehavioural observations of reproduction and mate choice in wild fossorial rodents are extremely limited and consequently indirect methods are typically used to infer mating strategies. We use a combination of morphological, reproductive, spatial, and genetic data to investigate the reproductive strategy of a solitary endemic species, the Cape dune mole-rat Bathyergus suillus. These data provide the first account on the population dynamics of this species. Marked sexual dimorphism was apparent with males being both significantly larger and heavier than females. Of all females sampled 36% had previously reproduced and 12% were pregnant at the time of capture. Post-partum sex ratio was found to be significantly skewed in favour of females. The paternity of fifteen litters (n = 37) was calculated, with sires assigned to progeny using both categorical and full probability methods, and including a distance function. The maximum distance between progeny and a putative sire was determined as 2149 m with males moving between sub-populations. We suggest that above-ground movement should not be ignored in the consideration of mate acquisition behaviour of subterranean mammals. Estimated levels of multiple paternity were shown to be potentially as high as 26%, as determined using sibship and sire assignment methods. Such high levels of multiple paternity have not been found in other solitary mole-rat species. The data therefore suggest polyandry with no evidence as yet for polygyny.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationBray, T. C., Bloomer, P., O'Riain, M. J., & Bennett, N. C. (2012). How attractive is the girl next door? An assessment of spatial mate acquisition and paternity in the solitary Cape dune mole-Rat, Bathyergus suillus. <i>PLoS One</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15033en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationBray, Timothy C, Paulette Bloomer, M Justin O'Riain, and Nigel C Bennett "How attractive is the girl next door? An assessment of spatial mate acquisition and paternity in the solitary Cape dune mole-Rat, Bathyergus suillus." <i>PLoS One</i> (2012) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15033en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationBray, T. C., Bloomer, P., O’Riain, M. J., & Bennett, N. C. (2012). How attractive is the girl next door? An assessment of spatial mate acquisition and paternity in the solitary Cape dune mole-Rat, Bathyergus suillus. PloS one, 7(6), e39866. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0039866en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Bray, Timothy C AU - Bloomer, Paulette AU - O'Riain, M Justin AU - Bennett, Nigel C AB - Behavioural observations of reproduction and mate choice in wild fossorial rodents are extremely limited and consequently indirect methods are typically used to infer mating strategies. We use a combination of morphological, reproductive, spatial, and genetic data to investigate the reproductive strategy of a solitary endemic species, the Cape dune mole-rat Bathyergus suillus. These data provide the first account on the population dynamics of this species. Marked sexual dimorphism was apparent with males being both significantly larger and heavier than females. Of all females sampled 36% had previously reproduced and 12% were pregnant at the time of capture. Post-partum sex ratio was found to be significantly skewed in favour of females. The paternity of fifteen litters (n = 37) was calculated, with sires assigned to progeny using both categorical and full probability methods, and including a distance function. The maximum distance between progeny and a putative sire was determined as 2149 m with males moving between sub-populations. We suggest that above-ground movement should not be ignored in the consideration of mate acquisition behaviour of subterranean mammals. Estimated levels of multiple paternity were shown to be potentially as high as 26%, as determined using sibship and sire assignment methods. Such high levels of multiple paternity have not been found in other solitary mole-rat species. The data therefore suggest polyandry with no evidence as yet for polygyny. DA - 2012 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0039866 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - PLoS One LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2012 T1 - How attractive is the girl next door? An assessment of spatial mate acquisition and paternity in the solitary Cape dune mole-Rat, Bathyergus suillus TI - How attractive is the girl next door? An assessment of spatial mate acquisition and paternity in the solitary Cape dune mole-Rat, Bathyergus suillus UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15033 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/15033
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0039866
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationBray TC, Bloomer P, O'Riain MJ, Bennett NC. How attractive is the girl next door? An assessment of spatial mate acquisition and paternity in the solitary Cape dune mole-Rat, Bathyergus suillus. PLoS One. 2012; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15033.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Biological Sciencesen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_ZA
dc.rights.holder© 2012 Bray et alen_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0en_ZA
dc.sourcePLoS Oneen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://journals.plos.org/plosoneen_ZA
dc.subject.otherRodentsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherCopulationen_ZA
dc.subject.otherGenotypingen_ZA
dc.subject.otherVariant genotypesen_ZA
dc.subject.otherAllelesen_ZA
dc.subject.otherPopulation geneticsen_ZA
dc.subject.otherGenetic locien_ZA
dc.subject.otherPregnancyen_ZA
dc.titleHow attractive is the girl next door? An assessment of spatial mate acquisition and paternity in the solitary Cape dune mole-Rat, Bathyergus suillusen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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