Cargando…
Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity
In many animals, males compete for access to fertile females. The resulting sexual selection leads to sex differences in morphology and behaviour, but may also have consequences for physiology. Pectoral sandpipers are an arctic-breeding polygynous shorebird in which males perform elaborate displays...
Autores principales: | , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
The Royal Society
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10664278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37991194 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0391 |
_version_ | 1785148709971951616 |
---|---|
author | Santema, Peter Eberhart-Hertel, Luke Valcu, Mihai Kempenaers, Bart |
author_facet | Santema, Peter Eberhart-Hertel, Luke Valcu, Mihai Kempenaers, Bart |
author_sort | Santema, Peter |
collection | PubMed |
description | In many animals, males compete for access to fertile females. The resulting sexual selection leads to sex differences in morphology and behaviour, but may also have consequences for physiology. Pectoral sandpipers are an arctic-breeding polygynous shorebird in which males perform elaborate displays around-the-clock and move over long distances to sample potential breeding sites, implying the need for physiological adaptations to cope with extreme endurance. We examined the oxygen carrying capacity of pectoral sandpipers, measured as the volume percentage of red blood cells in blood (haematocrit, Hct). We found a remarkable sex difference in Hct levels, with males having much higher values (58.9 ± 3.8 s.d.) than females (49.8 ± 5.3 s.d.). While Hct values of male pectoral sandpipers are notable for being among the highest recorded in birds, the sex difference we report is unprecedented and more than double that of any previously described. We also show that Hct values declined after arrival to the breeding grounds in females, but not in males, suggesting that males maintain an aerobic capacity during the mating period equivalent to that sustained during trans-hemispheric migration. We conclude that sexual selection for extreme physical performance in male pectoral sandpipers has led to exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10664278 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | The Royal Society |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-106642782023-11-22 Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity Santema, Peter Eberhart-Hertel, Luke Valcu, Mihai Kempenaers, Bart Biol Lett Animal Behaviour In many animals, males compete for access to fertile females. The resulting sexual selection leads to sex differences in morphology and behaviour, but may also have consequences for physiology. Pectoral sandpipers are an arctic-breeding polygynous shorebird in which males perform elaborate displays around-the-clock and move over long distances to sample potential breeding sites, implying the need for physiological adaptations to cope with extreme endurance. We examined the oxygen carrying capacity of pectoral sandpipers, measured as the volume percentage of red blood cells in blood (haematocrit, Hct). We found a remarkable sex difference in Hct levels, with males having much higher values (58.9 ± 3.8 s.d.) than females (49.8 ± 5.3 s.d.). While Hct values of male pectoral sandpipers are notable for being among the highest recorded in birds, the sex difference we report is unprecedented and more than double that of any previously described. We also show that Hct values declined after arrival to the breeding grounds in females, but not in males, suggesting that males maintain an aerobic capacity during the mating period equivalent to that sustained during trans-hemispheric migration. We conclude that sexual selection for extreme physical performance in male pectoral sandpipers has led to exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity. The Royal Society 2023-11-22 /pmc/articles/PMC10664278/ /pubmed/37991194 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0391 Text en © 2023 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Animal Behaviour Santema, Peter Eberhart-Hertel, Luke Valcu, Mihai Kempenaers, Bart Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity |
title | Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity |
title_full | Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity |
title_fullStr | Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity |
title_full_unstemmed | Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity |
title_short | Sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity |
title_sort | sexual selection for extreme physical performance in a polygynous bird is associated with exceptional sex differences in oxygen carrying capacity |
topic | Animal Behaviour |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10664278/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37991194 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0391 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT santemapeter sexualselectionforextremephysicalperformanceinapolygynousbirdisassociatedwithexceptionalsexdifferencesinoxygencarryingcapacity AT eberharthertelluke sexualselectionforextremephysicalperformanceinapolygynousbirdisassociatedwithexceptionalsexdifferencesinoxygencarryingcapacity AT valcumihai sexualselectionforextremephysicalperformanceinapolygynousbirdisassociatedwithexceptionalsexdifferencesinoxygencarryingcapacity AT kempenaersbart sexualselectionforextremephysicalperformanceinapolygynousbirdisassociatedwithexceptionalsexdifferencesinoxygencarryingcapacity |