Large males have a mating advantage in a species of darter with smaller,allopaternal males Etheostoma olmstedi

【摘要】：正 Theory suggests that males that are larger than their competitors may have increased mating success, due to bothgreater competitive ability and increased attractiveness to females. We examined how male mating success varies with male sizein the tessellated darter Etheostoma olmstedi. Previous work has shown that large males tend to move around and breed in vacantbreeding sites, and consequently provide less care for their eggs, while smaller individuals can be allopaternal, caring for the eggsof other males as well as for their own. We studied female egg deposition in a natural breeding population using artificial breedingsites and in the laboratory, where female choice of spawning site was restricted to two breeding sites tended by two males ofdifferent sizes. In both the field and the laboratory, nests tended by larger males were more likely to receive new eggs. Additionally,the mean size of males associated with a nest was positively correlated with both the maximum coverage of eggs at the nestand the number of times new eggs were deposited. We discuss how the increased mating success of larger males, despite their decreasedparental care, may help explain allopaternal care in this species