La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Low incidence of extra-pair paternity in the colonially nesting common swift Apus apus
Auteurs :	T. L. F. Martins, Auteur ; J. K. Blakey, Auteur ; J. Wright, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Journal of Avian Biology (33(4) DEC 2002)
Article en page(s) :	441-446
Langues:	Anglais
Résumé :	The frequency of extra-pair paternity in a wild colony of swifts Apus apus was determined by multilocus DNA fingerprinting in two successive breeding seasons. The data were used to examine the expectation that extra-pair paternity is frequent in colonial-nesting species, either for proximal reasons such as the increased opportunity for extra-pair matings, or because extra-pair matings are important in the evolution and maintenance of coloniality. Forty-two broods containing 88 chicks were analysed. The genetic analysis revealed four cases of extra-pair paternity (4.5% of chicks) from four (9.5%) nests. Rapid mate-switching was considered unlikely to be the cause of extra-pair paternity since three of the cases were in the nests of previously established breeding pairs. Extra-pair copulations were not observed, but were assumed to be the cause of extra-pair paternity. The data show that high levels of extra-pair paternity are not an inevitable feature of high-density nesting.

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