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Journal of Heredity Advance Access originally published online on December 12, 2008
Journal of Heredity 2009 100(3):365-370; doi:10.1093/jhered/esn104
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© The American Genetic Association. 2008. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Brief Communications

Male Reproductive Success and Multiple Paternity in Wild, Low-Density Populations of the Adder (Vipera berus)

Sylvain Ursenbacher, Cecile Erny, and Luca Fumagalli

From the Laboratoire de Biologie de la Conservation, Département d'Ecologie et Evolution, Biophore, Université de Lausanne, Switzerland (Ursenbacher, Erny, and Fumagalli); and the School of Biological Sciences, University of Wales—Bangor, Bangor LL57 2UW, UK (Ursenbacher)

Address correspondence to S. Ursenbacher, Department of Environmental Sciences, Section of Conservation Biology, University of Basel, St Johanns-Vorstadt 10, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland, or e-mail: s.ursenbacher{at}unibas.ch.

We studied for the first time the occurrence of multiple paternity, male reproductive success, and neonate survival in wild, low-density adder (Vipera berus) populations using 13 microsatellite loci. Paternity was assigned for 15 clutches, collected during 3 years. Our data demonstrated that multiple paternity can occur at a high level (69%) in natural populations of V. berus, even if the density of adults is low. The high proportion of multiple sired clutches was comparable to the proportion observed in captive populations. Male reproductive success significantly increased with body length, and only the largest males successfully sired entire clutches. Finally, no relationship was detected between the number of fathers per clutch and neonate survival. These results suggest that multiple matings could be beneficial in populations with high level of inbreeding or low male fecundity.

Key Words: Male reproductive success • multiple paternity • reptile • Vipera berus

Corresponding Editor: William Modi

Received April 18, 2008
Revised September 18, 2008
Accepted November 4, 2008


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