Kraaijeveld Ken, Kraaijeveld-Smit Femmie J L, Adcock Greg J
Department of Biology, Galton Laboratory, University College London, Wolfson House, 4 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HE, UK.
Proc Biol Sci. 2003 Nov 7;270 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):S251-3. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2003.0082.
In some members of the marsupial families Didelphidae and Dasyuridae, males are semelparous, that is, they live for only one mating season. Semelparity is proposed to be the result of the high energy demands of competing for matings with many females during a short breeding season. We argue that high adult female mortality rates between mating and weaning of the offspring selects for a 'bethedging' mating strategy in males. We tested this hypothesis in a well-studied field population of Antechinus agilis by estimating the number of females a male needs to mate with in order to have a high chance of siring at least one offspring that survives to the next breeding season. Our hypothesis predicts that species in which males are semelparous should have higher female mortality rates than species in which males are iteroparous. The limited available data for dasyurid marsupials support this prediction.
在有袋目负鼠科和袋鼬科的一些物种中，雄性为一次性繁殖动物，也就是说，它们仅存活一个交配季节。一次性繁殖被认为是在短繁殖季节与众多雌性交配竞争时对高能量需求的结果。我们认为，成年雌性在交配到后代断奶期间的高死亡率促使雄性选择“避险”交配策略。我们通过估算雄性为了有较高机会产下至少一只存活到下一个繁殖季节的后代而需要与之交配的雌性数量，在一个经过充分研究的敏捷狭足袋鼩野外种群中对这一假设进行了检验。我们的假设预测，雄性为一次性繁殖动物的物种的雌性死亡率应高于雄性为多次繁殖动物的物种。现有的关于袋鼬科有袋动物的有限数据支持了这一预测。
