DOES BATEMAN'S PRINCIPLE APPLY TO BROADCAST-SPAWNING ORGANISMS? EGG TRAITS INFLUENCE IN SITU FERTILIZATION RATES AMONG CONGENERIC SEA URCHINS.

Evolutionary biologists generally invoke male competition and female choice as mechanisms driving sexual selection. However, in broadcast-spawning organisms sperm may be limiting and females may compete, in the Darwinian sense, for increased mating success. In this study, I investigate how species differences in egg and sperm traits result in different patterns of fertilization among three closely related sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus purpuratus, S. franciscanus, and S. droebachiensis). Field studies demonstrate that all three species achieve similar percentages of eggs fertilized when eggs and sperm are released simultaneously. However, when sperm must disperse before encountering eggs, differences arise among species such that those with the smaller eggs and faster but shorter-lived sperm achieve relatively fewer fertilizations than do species with larger eggs and slower but longer-lived sperm. A field hybridization experiment, field estimates of sperm dispersal, correlations of egg size to field rates of fertilization, laboratory studies of fertilization kinetics, and a simulation model all suggest that it is attributes of the egg (probably egg size) that are responsible for the differences. These patterns of fertilization match the species' patterns of dispersion; species that do well only when sperm and eggs are released in close proximity are more aggregated, species that do relatively well when sperm and eggs are released farther apart are more dispersed. These results are consistent with the notion that eggs of different species are adapted to maximize reproductive success under different degrees of sperm limitation and suggest that male competition and female choice may not be an appropriate dichotomy in broadcast-spawning organisms.