Department of Biology, West Chester University, 750 S. Church St., West Chester, PA, USA.
J Anim Ecol. 2013 Jul;82(4):826-35. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.12043. Epub 2013 Jan 28.
Traditionally, many breeding traits (e.g. the timing and size of clutches) were considered to be female-only traits in that males played little-to-no role in their expression. Although the contribution of males to such breeding traits, as well as other aspects of reproduction, is increasingly recognized, few studies have demonstrated the effects of male age and life history on breeding traits and, importantly, whether these effects are underlined by additive-genetic variation. Here, we take advantage of a long-term data set on mute swans (Cygnus olor) to demonstrate that the ages of both the male and female parents play significant roles in the timing and size of clutches, although recruitment success did not show similar effects. Individual males varied significantly in their influence on the timing of egg laying. We decomposed this variation using an 'animal model'; competing models that were the source of this variation as additive-genetic or permanent-environmental variation was not statistically distinguishable. Our results add to the growing evidence that reproductive performance should be considered as a product of the identity and condition of both parents.
传统上，许多繁殖特征（例如卵窝的时间和大小）被认为是雌性特有的特征，因为雄性在其表达中几乎没有发挥作用。尽管男性对这些繁殖特征以及生殖的其他方面的贡献越来越受到认可，但很少有研究表明男性年龄和生活史对繁殖特征的影响，更重要的是，这些影响是否受到加性遗传变异的支持。在这里，我们利用关于 mute swans（Cygnus olor）的长期数据集来证明，尽管招募成功率没有显示出类似的影响，但雄性和雌性父母的年龄在卵窝的时间和大小方面起着重要作用。个体雄性在产卵时间上的影响差异很大。我们使用“动物模型”来分解这种变异；这种变异的来源是加性遗传或永久环境变异，在统计学上无法区分。我们的研究结果增加了越来越多的证据表明，繁殖表现应该被视为父母双方的身份和状况的产物。
