title: Relationship between female mating strategy, litter success and offspring dispersal.
abstract: The relationship between mating systems and dispersal has generally been studied at the population and species levels. It has hardly ever been investigated at the individual level, by studying the variations of mating and dispersal strategies between individuals. We investigated this relationship in a natural population of the common lizard (Lacerta vivipara). Assuming that dispersal has a genetic basis, juvenile dispersal would be expected to be more family-dependent in monoandrous litters than in polyandrous litters. The opposite pattern was observed. Thus, maternal effects and/or litter effects play a greater role than genetic determinism in shaping the dispersal phenotype of juveniles. Moreover, the relationship between female mating strategy and offspring dispersal depended on litter success, in a way consistent with an influence of mother-offspring competition. Such a link between mating and dispersal strategies of individuals may have major repercussions for the way we consider the roles of these processes in population functioning.
authors.affiliation: UPMC Univ Paris 06, UMR 7625, Laboratoire Ecologie & Evolution, F-75005 Paris, France. david.laloi@upmc.fr
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Laloi
authors.forename: Murielle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Richard
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fédérici
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Clobert
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Teillac-Deschamps
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Massot
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001824:Body Constitution / Q000502:physiology; D049628:Body Size; D003163:Competitive Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D005602:France; D016014:Linear Models; D008098:Litter Size / Q000502:physiology*; D008116:Lizards / Q000502:physiology*; D012726:Sexual Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*