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Dryad

Data from: Cryptic female choice enhances fertilization success and embryo survival in chinook salmon

Cite this dataset

Rosengrave, Patrice; Montgomerie, Robert; Gemmell, Neil (2016). Data from: Cryptic female choice enhances fertilization success and embryo survival in chinook salmon [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.509k2

Abstract

In this study we investigated two potentially important intersexual postcopulatory gametic interactions in a population of chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha): (i) the effect of female ovarian fluid (OF) on the behaviour of spermatozoa during fertilisation, and (ii) the effects of multilocus heterozygosity (as an index of male quality) and female-male genetic relatedness on sperm behaviour and male fertilisation success when there is sperm competition in the presence of that ovarian fluid. To do this, we conducted a series of in vitro competitive fertilisation experiments and found that,when ejaculates from two males are competing for access to a single female’s unfertilised eggs, fertilisation success was significantly biased toward the male whose sperm swam fastest in the female’s ovarian fluid. Embryo survival—a measure of fitness—was also positively correlated with both sperm swimming speed in ovarian fluid and male multilocus heterozygosity, providing novel evidence that cryptic female choice is adaptive for the female, enhancing the early survival of her offspring and potentially influencing her fitness.

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