=PLFS8M8i_wUofV6yY7dYC0xux28ggO1KAU&index= 2

=PLFS8M8i_wUofV6yY7dYC0xux28ggO1KAU&index= 2

Exclusive male care despite extreme female promiscuity and low paternity in a marine snail Marina Kusaba Natalie Weaver Lindsey Briggs

Introduction ● Males need paternity assurance in order to invest in offspring-- the greater confidence a male has in offspring the more willing he will be to invest ● Snail exhibit a wide variety of parental investment ● In the marine snail, Solenosteira macrospira, the males carry the eggs not the female

Research Question Is male parental care in in marine snails accompanied by promiscuity or do paternity assurance mechanisms prevail?

Methods ● 169 males and 200 female adult snails ● Manipulated egg-capsule load in marine snail to determine if carrying the egg is costly and requires parental investment ● Control Group= No Eggs ● Experimental Group= Covered in Eggs

Genetic Analysis ● Collected 287 adult male and female marine snails ● Genotyped the adults and offsprings and extracted their DNA

Results ● Experiment o Significant decrease in male body mass over the course of 2 weeks of carrying the eggs o Physical exertion and physical cost to mating o Females have some of the highest levels of polyandry in internally fertilized organisms o Remains unclear the reason why female snails are promiscuous  Possible reason may be convenience polyandry  High cost of additional mating and dealing with harassing males

Results ● Genetic Analysis o Promiscuity found in all of the snails o Females mate with 13+ snails in a given season o only 24% of the offspring was cared for by the genetic father o High levels of female promiscuity coexisting with low paternity and male care

Conclusion and Discussion ● Significant decrease in male body mass -costly to males ●Do most of the caring for children ● Off springs from other males -raising children that not theirs ●Females some of the highest polyandry in internally fertilized organisms ●Why?

Citation Kamel, Stephanie J. & Grosberg, Richard K. (2012). Exclusive male care despite extreme female promiscuity and low paternity in a marine snail. Ecology Letters, 15(10), DOI: /j x

Exclusive male care despite extreme female promiscuity and low paternity in a marine snail Marina Kusaba Natalie Weaver Lindsey Briggs

Introduction ● Males need paternity assurance in order to invest in offspring-- the greater confidence a male has in offspring the more willing he will be to invest ● Snail exhibit a wide variety of parental investment ● In the marine snail, Solenosteira macrospira, the males carry the eggs not the female

Research Question Is male parental care in in marine snails accompanied by promiscuity or do paternity assurance mechanisms prevail?

Methods ● 169 males and 200 female adult snails ● Manipulated egg-capsule load in marine snail to determine if carrying the egg is costly and requires parental investment ● Control Group= No Eggs ● Experimental Group= Covered in Eggs

Genetic Analysis ● Collected 287 adult male and female marine snails ● Genotyped the adults and offsprings and extracted their DNA

Results ● Experiment o Significant decrease in male body mass over the course of 2 weeks of carrying the eggs o Physical exertion and physical cost to mating o Females have some of the highest levels of polyandry in internally fertilized organisms o Remains unclear the reason why female snails are promiscuous  Possible reason may be convenience polyandry  High cost of additional mating and dealing with harassing males

Results ● Genetic Analysis o Promiscuity found in all of the snails o Females mate with 13+ snails in a given season o only 24% of the offspring was cared for by the genetic father o High levels of female promiscuity coexisting with low paternity and male care

Conclusion and Discussion ● Significant decrease in male body mass -costly to males ●Do most of the caring for children ● Off springs from other males -raising children that not theirs ●Females some of the highest polyandry in internally fertilized organisms ●Why?

Citation Kamel, Stephanie J. & Grosberg, Richard K. (2012). Exclusive male care despite extreme female promiscuity and low paternity in a marine snail. Ecology Letters, 15(10), DOI: /j x