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16 June 2020 Breeding patterns of female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) displaying alternative reproductive tactics
James B. Lichter, Connor T. Lambert, Nancy G. Solomon, Brian Keane
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Abstract

Individuals of either sex may display alternative behaviors to obtain copulations, but few studies have examined the breeding patterns of females and males in populations where individuals of both sexes exhibit alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs). In prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster), most adults are territorial, residing at a single nest site either as male–female pairs or as solitary individuals. However, some adults adopt nonterritorial, wandering tactics. During two field seasons monitoring prairie vole populations maintained in seminatural enclosures, we found evidence that females exhibiting different ARTs bred differentially with resident and wandering males. Females residing at a nest with a male bred significantly more often with a paired resident male, primarily their social partner, and significantly less often with male wanderers compared to single resident females or wandering females. These patterns were not due to chance, because paired resident females produced offspring with paired resident males significantly more than expected based on the relative abundance of these males in the population, whereas single resident females produced offspring with male wanderers significantly more than expected based on the proportion of male wanderers in the population. We did not find any evidence that multiple paternity was greater in the litters of single resident females and wanderer females even though these females lacked a male social partner to limit mating access by multiple males. This suggests that mate guarding by a female's male social partner was not the primary determinant of multiple paternity in the litters of females exhibiting different reproductive tactics. However, male ART did affect the likelihood of multiple paternity. Females that produced offspring with single resident or wanderer males had an increased likelihood of multiple paternity relative to females producing offspring with paired resident males. The results of this study show that female and male ARTs can affect breeding patterns.

© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Mammalogists, www.mammalogy.org.
James B. Lichter, Connor T. Lambert, Nancy G. Solomon, and Brian Keane "Breeding patterns of female prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) displaying alternative reproductive tactics," Journal of Mammalogy 101(4), 990-999, (16 June 2020). https://doi.org/10.1093/jmammal/gyaa058
Received: 24 September 2019; Accepted: 10 May 2020; Published: 16 June 2020
KEYWORDS
genetic monogamy
intraspecific variation
mating strategies
multiple paternity
rodents
social monogamy
vole
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