SICB 2018: Local density of conspecifics affects sperm phenotypes in wild Anolis sagrei lizards

Theory predicts that males should invest more in ejaculate production when the likelihood of sperm competition is high, thereby increasing the chance of fertilization. However, ejaculates can be energetically costly, and increased investment into sperm production should only occur if there are fitness benefits associated with that increased investment. Growing experimental evidence suggests that sperm traits respond plastically to social environment. However, it is not known whether fine-scale spatial variation in the local density of male competitors or potential female mates corresponds to individual variation in ejaculate production.

Island population with capture records of males (blue) and female (red) anoles.

Matt Kustra of the Cox lab examined a wild population to test the prediction that, as the risk of sperm competition increases (i.e., higher local density of male competitors), males will increase their total investment in their ejaculates (sperm count). He also tested for correlations between sperm morphology, specifically midpiece size and local density.

To do this, he and the Cox lab collected wild adults from an island population in Florida. They generated a map of each tree on the island using ArcGIS, then marked the location of males and females on this map. Using the kernel density function, they estimated the local density of individual males by taking into account all conspecific adults that were captured within a 5.8 m radius of an individual’s own capture location.

Matt found that length of the sperm midpiece increased with local density, whereas length of the sperm head and sperm count decreased with local density. Contrary to his predictions, he found that total investment in sperm count decreased with local density. This could be because males in high density environments have depleted their sperm stores because they have more opportunities to mate, or it could be because males are investing less per ejaculate if mating frequency is higher.

These findings indicate that fine-scale differences in local density within a wild population can affect sperm count and various sperm phenotypes. In the future, the Cox lab hopes to measure fitness in this populations to understand how sperm phenotypes shape individual reproductive success.