Selection on sperm size in response to promiscuity and variation in female sperm storage organs

Abstract

Sperm cells are exceptionally morphologically diverse across taxa. However, morphology can be quite uniform within species, particularly for species where females copulate with many males per reproductive bout. Strong sexual selection in these promiscuous species is widely hypothesized to reduce intraspecific sperm variation. Conversely, we hypothesize that intraspecific sperm size variation may be maintained by high among‐female variation in the size of sperm storage organs, assuming that paternity success improves when sperm are compatible in size with the sperm storage organ. We use individual‐based simulations and an analytical model to evaluate how selection on sperm size depends on promiscuity level and variation in sperm storage organ size (hereafter, female preference variation). Simulations of high promiscuity (10 mates per female) showed stabilizing selection on sperm when female preference variation was low, and disruptive selection when female preference variation was high, consistent with the analytical model results. With low promiscuity (2–3 mates per female), selection on sperm was stabilizing for all levels of female preference variation in the simulations, contrasting with the analytical model. Promiscuity level, or mate sampling, thus has a strong impact on the selection resulting from female preferences. Furthermore, when promiscuity is low, disruptive selection on male traits will occur under much more limited circumstances (i.e. only with higher among‐female variation) than many previous models suggest. Variation in female sperm storage organs likely has strong implications for intraspecific sperm variation in highly promiscuous species, but likely does not explain differences in intraspecific sperm variation for less promiscuous taxa.

Abstract

We modelled populations where among‐female variation in sperm storage organ (SSO) size (red) was relatively high or low, compared to among‐male variation in sperm size (blue). The form of selection on sperm depended on the interaction between among‐female SSO variation and female promiscuity level (i.e. number of sperm competitors).