Parentage in social ungulates

Ema Cetkovská

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

Ungulates display a wide range of complex mating systems characterized by a multitude of factors, including the number of mating partners and territoriality. Sexual selection, the variability of reproductive success among individuals, is caused by various mechanisms, some of which are observable, while others, such as sperm competition and cryptic female choice, occurring in the female reproductive tract, are unperceivable. Consequently, mating behavior may not be reflected in parentage relations, and accurate parentage assignment may solely be obtained using molecular methods. The thesis is focused on the critically endangered Western Derby eland subspecies, with less than two hundred mature individuals remaining in Senegal, and the unthreatened common eland. Twelve microsatellite markers were used to assess paternity of putative sires of 41 Western Derby elands from the Senegalese semi-captive populations and 24 common elands kept in captivity at the University Farm Estate Lány. In addition to that, maternity was determined for 54 common elands at the University Farm Estate Lány. While the results of paternity assignment in the Western Derby elands correspond to predictions based on body condition, and the observational estimations of maternity in the common elands are generally accurate, mismatches between paternity predictions based on observations and the results obtained via molecular methods are more frequent in the common elands. This disparity in the accuracy of paternity predictions could be explained by the different management of the populations. While detailed composition of the Western Derby eland herds is recorded, information on the segregation of the common elands kept at the University Farm Estate Lány into the two parts of the facility, which determines the capacity of males to access females, is missing. Furthermore, the identity of the Western Derby elands is determined based on the permanent and unique stripe pattern, whereas the common elands are primarily identified using colorful ear tags, which are prone to falling off and consequently encumber paternity assignment.

Keywords

parentage assignment, paternity, microsatellites, eland, Taurotragus derbianus, Taurotragus oryx

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 15. 4. 2021

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Mgr. Barbora Černá Bolfíková, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Bachelor programme / field:
Agricultural Specialization / Agriculture in Tropics and Subtropics