Sexual dimorphism of egg size in the European Blackbird Turdus merula
| Autor: | Joanna Rutkowska, Mariusz Cichoń, Rafał Martyka, Kazimierz Walasz, Anna Dybek-Karpiuk |
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| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
sex allocation 0303 health sciences Offspring Ecology Maternal effect Zoology European blackbird Embryo hatching asynchrony Biology 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Sexual dimorphism 03 medical and health sciences medicine.anatomical_structure embryonic structures Hatching asynchrony medicine egg volume Gamete maternal effects Sex allocation laying sequence 030304 developmental biology |
| Popis: | Recently, a number of studies have shown that female birds are able to control the sex of their progeny at the stage of the gamete. There is also some evidence that females adjust their investment in offspring depending on the sex of the embryo during egg formation. Differential maternal investment to the eggs depending on their sex is usually interpreted as an adaptive strategy, by which females can increase competitive abilities of the smaller sex, or preferentially invest towards the sex with the potentially higher fitness returns. Here, we studied variation in egg size in relation to embryo sex and laying order in the European Blackbird Turdus merula. We found male and female eggs to differ in size, with larger eggs containing male embryos, as well as a significant interaction between embryo sex and laying order. This interaction resulted from the fact that egg size increased with the laying sequence among eggs bearing females but did not change with laying order among eggs bearing males. There was no relationship between offspring sex and the laying sequence within a clutch. We suggest that sexual dimorphism in egg size recorded in the European Blackbird may reflect favouritism of the sex which may give higher fitness returns. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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