NDLI: Sperm morphology, swimming velocity, and longevity in the house sparrow Passer domesticus

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Helfenstein, Fabrice Podevin, Murielle Richner, Heinz
Copyright Year	2009
Abstract	Sperm competition exerts strong selection on males to produce spermatozoa with an optimal morphology that maximizes their fertilization success. Long sperm were first suggested to be favored because they should swim faster. However, studies that investigated the relationship between sperm length and sperm competitive ability or sperm swimming velocity yielded contradictory results. More recently, ratios of the different sections of a spermatozoon (the head, midpiece, and flagellum) were suggested to be more crucial in determining swimming velocity. Additionally, sperm ability to remain and survive in the female storage organs may also influence fertilization success, so that optimal sperm morphology may rather maximize sperm longevity than velocity. In this study, we investigated how sperm morphology is related to sperm velocity and sperm longevity in the house sparrow Passer domesticus. Sperm velocity was found to be correlated with head/flagellum ratio. Sperm with small heads relative to their flagellum showed higher swimming velocity. Additionally, shorter sperm were found to live longer. Finally, we found sperm morphological traits to vary substantially within males and the head/flagellum ratio to be unrelated to total sperm length. We discuss the hypothesis that the substantial within-male variation in sperm morphology reflects a male strategy to produce a diversity of sperm from long, fast-swimming to short, long-living sperm to maximize their fertilization success in a context of sperm competition.
Starting Page	557
Ending Page	565
Page Count	9
File Format	PDF
ISSN	03405443
Journal	Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Volume Number	64
Issue Number	4
e-ISSN	14320762
Language	English
Publisher	Springer-Verlag
Publisher Date	2009-10-17
Publisher Place	Berlin, Heidelberg
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Passer domesticus Sperm flagellum Sperm length Sperm longevity Sperm midpiece Sperm morphology Sperm velocity Sperm competition Behavioural Sciences Evolutionary Biology Zoology
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

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