Assessment of male reproductive skew via highly polymorphic STR markers in wild vervet monkeys, Chlorocebus pygerythrus

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Minkner, MMI, Young, C ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8919-2093, Amici, F, McFarland, R ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8245-9269, Barrett, L, Grobler, JP, Henzi, SP and Widdig, A, 2018. Assessment of male reproductive skew via highly polymorphic STR markers in wild vervet monkeys, Chlorocebus pygerythrus. Journal of Heredity, 109 (7), pp. 780-790. ISSN 0022-1503

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esy048

Abstract

Male reproductive strategies have been well studied in primate species where the ability of males to monopolize reproductive access is high. Less is known about species where males cannot monopolize mating access. Vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) are interesting in this regard as female codominance reduces the potential for male monopolization. Under this condition, we assessed whether male dominance rank still influences male mating and reproductive success, by assigning paternities to infants in a population of wild vervets in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. To determine paternity, we established microsatellite markers from noninvasive fecal samples via cross-species amplification. In addition, we evaluated male mating and reproductive success for 3 groups over 4 mating seasons. We identified 21 highly polymorphic microsatellites (number of alleles = 7.5 ± 3.1 [mean ± SD], observed heterozygosity = 0.691 ± 0.138 [mean ± SD]) and assigned paternity to 94 of 97 sampled infants (96.9%) with high confidence. Matings pooled over 4 seasons were significantly skewed across 3 groups, although skew indices were low (B index = 0.023–0.030) and mating success did not correlate with male dominance. Paternities pooled over 4 seasons were not consistently significantly skewed (B index = 0.005–0.062), with high-ranking males siring more offspring than subordinates only in some seasons. We detected 6 cases of extra-group paternity (6.4%) and 4 cases of natal breeding (4.3%). Our results suggest that alternative reproductive strategies besides priority of access for dominant males are likely to affect paternity success, warranting further investigation into the determinants of paternity among species with limited male monopolization potential.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Journal of Heredity
Creators:	Minkner, M.M.I., Young, C., Amici, F., McFarland, R., Barrett, L., Grobler, J.P., Henzi, S.P. and Widdig, A.
Publisher:	Oxford University Press (OUP)
Date:	October 2018
Volume:	109
Number:	7
ISSN:	0022-1503
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1093/jhered/esy048 DOI 1484203 Other
Rights:	This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Heredity following peer review. The version of record Minkner, M. M. I., Young, C., Amici, F., McFarland, R., Barrett, L., Grobler, J. P., …Widdig, A. (2018). Assessment of male reproductive skew via highly polymorphic STR markers in wild vervet monkeys, Chlorocebus pygerythrus. Journal of Heredity, 109(7), 780-790 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/jhered/esy048
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Laura Ward
Date Added:	03 Nov 2021 11:17
Last Modified:	16 Nov 2021 10:58
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/44588