Age-related changes in sperm traits and evidence for aging costs of sperm production in a sexually ...

@article{2333578,
   author = {Míčková, Kristýna and Tomášek, Oldřich and Jelínek, Václav and Šulc, Michal and Pazdera, Lukáš and Albrechtová, Jana and Albrecht, Tomáš},
   article_number = {February},
   doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1105596},
   keywords = {senescence; post-copulatory sexual selection; life-history trade-offs; sperm morphology; sperm velocity; cloacal protuberance; Hirundo rustica},
   language = {eng},
   issn = {2296-701X},
   journal = {Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution},
   title = {Age-related changes in sperm traits and evidence for aging costs of sperm production in a sexually promiscuous passerine},
   url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1105596},
   volume = {11},
   year = {2023}
}

TY  - JOUR
ID  - 2333578
AU  - Míčková, Kristýna - Tomášek, Oldřich - Jelínek, Václav - Šulc, Michal - Pazdera, Lukáš - Albrechtová, Jana - Albrecht, Tomáš
PY  - 2023
TI  - Age-related changes in sperm traits and evidence for aging costs of sperm production in a sexually promiscuous passerine
JF  - Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
VL  - 11
IS  - February
SP  - 1-9
EP  - 1-9
PB  - Frontiers Media SA
SN  - 2296701X
KW  - senescence
KW  - post-copulatory sexual selection
KW  - life-history trade-offs
KW  - sperm morphology
KW  - sperm velocity
KW  - cloacal protuberance
KW  - Hirundo rustica
UR  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1105596
N2  - In many animal species, organismal performance declines with age in a process known as aging or senescence. Senescence typically leads to a deterioration of physiological functionality and can impact the development of primary sexual phenotypes. Sperm production is a complex and costly process that is sensitive to changes in individual physiological state, yet remarkably little is known about age-related changes in sperm performance and aging costs of sperm production. Here we use a non-linear generalized additive mixed models (GAMM) modelling to evaluate age-related changes in postcopulatory sexual traits in the European barn swallow (Hirundo rustica rustica), a relatively short lived sexually promiscuous passerine species, where male extra-pair fertilization success has been shown to increase with age. We confirmed a positive relationship between sperm midpiece length and sperm velocity in this species. Within-male changes in sperm morphology and sperm velocity were in general absent, with only sperm length decreasing linearly with increasing age, although this change was negligible compared to the overall variation in sperm size among males. In contrast, the cloacal protuberance (CP) size changed nonlinearly with age, with an initial increase between the first and third year of life followed by a plateau. The results further indicate the existence of a trade-off between investments in sperm production and survival as males with large CP tended to have a reduced lifespan. This seems consistent with the idea of expensive sperm production and survival aging costs associated with investments in post-copulatory traits in this sexually promiscuous species.
ER  - 

MÍČKOVÁ, Kristýna, Oldřich TOMÁŠEK, Václav JELÍNEK, Michal ŠULC, Lukáš PAZDERA, Jana ALBRECHTOVÁ and Tomáš ALBRECHT. Age-related changes in sperm traits and evidence for aging costs of sperm production in a sexually promiscuous passerine. \textit{Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution}. Frontiers Media SA, 2023, vol.~11, February, p.~1-9. ISSN~2296-701X. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2023.1105596.