Sperm competition

When multiple males mate with the same female there is a risk of sperm competition over the fertilisation of the female’s eggs. Together with Leigh Simmons, UWA, I have investigated how males decrease their ejaculate expenditure with a perceived increase in sperm competition intensity, in the Australian bushcricket Kawanaphila nartee. We have also written a review for Philosophical Transactions together, covering sexual selection both before and after mating.

In collaboration with Ola Svensson, GU, Kai Lindström, ÅAU, and Adam Jones, John C. Avise and their genetic labs in Texas and Georgia, USA, I have investigated sexual selection in relation to sneaker success in the sand goby.

I have also focused on sperm competition in relation to the evolution of male care. In a phylogenetic study on fish together with Malin Ah-King and Birgitta S Tullberg, SU, we have shown that high paternity is not an necessary prerequisite for the evolution of male care, but that male care is more likely to evolve in taxa that already show territoriality. In a theoretical model I explored a previously unappreciated benefit of providing care: that aspects of male care behaviours may help prevent or reduce sperm competition.

UWA: The University of Western Australia, Australia; GU: University of Gothenburg, Sweden; ÅAU: Åbo Akademi University; SU: Stockholm University, Sweden