Extra-pair paternity in the socially monogamous white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is fairly common and independent of local density

摘要

Although many birds are socially monogamous, most (>75%) studied species are not strictly genetically\udmonogamous, especially under high breeding density. We used molecular tools to reevaluate the\udreproductive strategy of the socially monogamous white stork (Ciconia ciconia) and examined local\uddensity effects. DNA samples of nestlings (Germany, Spain) were genotyped and assigned relationships\udusing a two-program maximum likelihood classification. Relationships were successfully classified in\ud79.2% of German (n = 120) and 84.8% of Spanish (n = 59) nests. For each population respectively, 76.8%\ud(n = 73) and 66.0% (n = 33) of nests contained only full-siblings, 10.5% (n = 10) and 18.0% (n = 9) had\udhalf-siblings (at least one nestling with a different parent), 3.2% (n = 3) and 10.0% (n = 5) had unrelated\udnestlings (at least two nestlings, each with different parents), and 9.5% (n = 9) and 6.0% (n = 3) had “not\udfull-siblings” (could not differentiate between latter two cases). These deviations from strict monogamy\udplace the white stork in the 59th percentile for extra-pair paternity among studied bird species. Although\udhigh breeding density generally increases extra-pair paternity, we found no significant association with\udthis species’ mating strategies. Thus although genetic monogamy is indeed prominent in the white\udstork, extra-pair paternity is fairly common compared to other bird species and cannot be explained by\udbreeding density