Polygynandry and even-sexed dispersal in a population of collared pikas, Ochotona collaris
Back to previous page
| Authors: | Zgurski, JM; Hik, DS |
| Year: | 2012 |
| Journal: | Anim. Behav. 83: 1075-1082 Article Link (DOI) |
| Title: | Polygynandry and even-sexed dispersal in a population of collared pikas, Ochotona collaris |
| Abstract: | Sex-biased dispersal is common in mammals, and in most species, the majority of dispersers are juvenile males. However, which sex typically disperses in a species will ultimately be determined by the costs and benefits of dispersal for each sex. These are partly determined by a species' mating system, with female-defence polygyny being strongly associated with male-biased dispersal. The few mammal species without sex-biased dispersal have been predicted to have a monogamous or polygynandrous mating system and levels of intraspecific competition that affect males and females equally. North American pikas may meet these criteria. Using microsatellite data from a decade of population monitoring, we examined the mating system and dispersal habits of the collared pika, Ochotona collaris, an asocial alpine-dwelling lagomorph. While their behaviour suggests they are monogamous or polygynous, parentage analyses revealed that the pikas were primarily polygynandrous. As predicted, there was no difference in the average distance dispersed by the two sexes, most likely because the costs and benefits of dispersal do not differ between males and females in this species. Since levels of inbreeding in the population were low, we also determined whether the pikas chose mates based on genetic dissimilarity, and whether they decreased the inbreeding coefficients of their offspring by going on forays to mate with animals other than their neighbours. Pikas did not restrict themselves to mating with their neighbours, but the average relatedness coefficients between pairs that produced offspring did not differ from the average relatedness coefficients expected under a model of random mate choice. (C) 2012 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. |
Please send suggestions for improving this publication database to
sass-support@sfu.ca.
Departmental members may update their publication list.