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Abstract
Male reproductive success is determined by the ability of
males to gain sexual access to females, and by their
ability to fertilize ova. Among polygynous mammals, males
differ markedly in their reproductive success, and a great
deal of effort has been made to understand how selective
forces have shaped traits which enhance male
competitiveness before and after copulation (i.e. sperm
competition). However, the possibility that males may also
differ in their fertility has been ignored, under the
assumption that male infertility is rare in natural
populations because selection against it is likely to be
strong.
In this study we examined which semen traits correlate
with male fertility in natural populations of Iberian red
deer. We found no trade-offs between semen traits. Our
analyses revealed strong associations between (a) sperm
production and sperm swimming velocity, (b) sperm motility
and the proportion of morphologically normal spermatozoa,
and (c) sperm viability and acrosome integrity. These last
two variables had the lowest coefficients of variation
suggesting that these traits have stabilized at high
values and are unlikely to be related to fitness. In a
fertility trial, our results show that there was a large
degree of variation in male fertility, and that
differences in fertility were mainly determined by sperm
swimming velocity and also by the proportion of
morphologically normal sperm.
We conclude that male fertility does vary substantially in
natural populations of Iberian red deer and that, when
sperm numbers are equal, it is mainly determined by sperm
swimming velocity and sperm morphology.
Key words:
Gamete Biology •
Male Reproductive Tract •
Acrosome reaction •
Sperm •
Sperm motility and transport
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