Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T02:24:55.493Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hybridization and cuckoldry between black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 December 2019

M.G.W. Jones Open the ORCID record for M.G.W. Jones [Opens in a new window] ,
N.M.S. Techow ,
M.M. Risi ,
C.W. Jones Open the ORCID record for C.W. Jones [Opens in a new window] ,
Q.A. Hagens ,
F. Taylor  and
P.G. Ryan Open the ORCID record for P.G. Ryan [Opens in a new window]
M.G.W. Jones*
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
N.M.S. Techow
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
M.M. Risi
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
C.W. Jones
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
Q.A. Hagens
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
F. Taylor
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
P.G. Ryan
Affiliation:
FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch7701, South Africa
*
[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A vagrant black-browed albatross Thalassarche melanophris bred with a grey-headed albatross T. chrysostoma on Marion Island at least four times between 2000 and 2009 (and continued to return to the colony until at least 2019). The eggs failed to hatch in three breeding attempts, but the pair fledged a chick in the 2006/07 breeding season. Genetic sexing identified the black-browed albatross as female and she shared all eight sampled microsatellite alleles with the chick, whereas the grey-headed albatross social parent did not match the chick. The fledgling was banded and re-sighted in its natal breeding colony in 2016 and 2018, when it displayed an intermediate black-browed x grey-headed albatross phenotype, similar to a putative hybrid photographed at sea off Australia. These results suggest that the black-browed albatross cuckolded its social mate with another grey-headed albatross in 2006/07. The failures of the other three breeding attempts at the egg stage possibly indicate genetic incompatibility with the social partner.

Keywords

extra-pair paternitygenetic compatibilityMarion IslandThalassarche chrysosotomaThalassarche melanophris
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 10 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abbott, C.L., Double, M.C. & Cockburn, A. 2006. Copulation behaviour and paternity in shy albatrosses (Thalassarche cauta). Journal of Zoology, 270, 628–635.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Agreement on The Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels. 2010. Crossing the line: albatrosses changing hemispheres. https://www.acap.aq/en/news/news-archive/23-2010-news-archive/563-crossing-the-line-albatrosses-changing-hemispheres.Google Scholar
Brooke, M. 2004. Albatross and petrels across the world. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 552 pp.Google Scholar
Burg, T.M. & Croxall, J.P. 2001. Global relationships amongst black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses: analysis of population structure using mitochondrial DNA and microsatellites. Molecular Ecology, 10, 2647–2660.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burg, T.M. & Croxall, J.P. 2006. Extrapair paternities in black-browed Thalassarche melanophris, grey-headed T. chrysostoma and wandering albatross Diomedea exulans at South Georgia. Journal of Avian Biology, 37, 331–338.Google Scholar
Chambers, G.K., Moeke, C., Steel, R. & Trueman, J.W.H. 2009. Phylogenetic analysis of the 24 named albatross taxa based on full mitochondrial cytochrome b DNA sequences. Notornis, 56, 82–94.Google Scholar
Converse, S.J., Kendall, W.L., Doherty, P.F. Jr & Ryan, P.G. 2009. Demography of Marion Island grey-headed albatross: analysis utilizing advances in mark-recapture models. Auk, 126, 77–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cooper, J. & Brown, C.R. 1990. Ornithological research at the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands: a review of achievements. South African Journal of Antarctic Research, 20, 40–57.Google Scholar
Dubois, M.-P., Jarne, P. & Jouventin, P. 2005. Ten polymorphic microsatellite markers in the wandering albatross Diomedea exulans. Molecular Ecology Notes 5, 905–907.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, H.I. 1948. Interbreeding of laysan and black-footed albatrosses. Pacific Science 2, 132.Google Scholar
Fisher, H.I. 1972. Sympatry of laysan and black-footed albatross. Auk, 89, 381–402.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fridolfsson, A.-K. & Ellegren, H. 1999. A simple and universal method for molecular sexing of non-ratite birds. Journal of Avian Biology, 30, 116–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grant, P.R. & Grant, B.R. 1992. Hybridization of bird species. Science, 256, 193–197.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gowaty, P.A. 1996. Battle of the sexes and origins of monogamy. In Black, J.M., ed. Partnerships in birds: the study of monogamy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 21–52.Google Scholar
Huyvaert, K.P., Anderson, D.J. & Parker, P.G. 2006. Mate opportunity hypothesis and extrapair paternity in waved albatross (Phoebastria irrorata). Auk, 123, 524–536.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huyvaert, K.P., Anderson, D.J., Jones, T.C., Duan, W. & Parker, P.G. 2000. Extra-pair paternity in waved albatrosses. Molecular Ecology, 9, 1415–1419.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Inchausti, P. & Weimerskirch, H. 2002. Dispersal and metapopulation dynamics of an oceanic seabird, the wandering albatross, and its consequences for its response to long-line fisheries. Journal of Animal Ecology, 71, 765–770.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, M.G.W., Techow, N.M.S.M. & Ryan, P.G. 2012. Dalliances and doubtful dads: what determines extra-pair paternity in socially monogamous wandering albatrosses? Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 66, 1213–1224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jouventin, P., Charmantier, A., Dubois, M.-P., Jarne, P. & Bried, J. 2007. Extra-pair paternity in the strongly monogamous wandering albatross Diomedea exulans has no apparent benefits for females. Ibis, 149, 67–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalinowski, S.T., Taper, M.L. & Marshall, T.C. 2007. Revising how the computer program CERVUS accommodates genotyping error increases success in paternity assignment. Molecular Ecology, 16, 1099–1106.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marchant, A. & Higgins, P.J., eds. 1990. Handbook of Australian, New Zealand and Antarctic birds, Vol. 1: Part A: Ratites to petrels. Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 735 pp.Google Scholar
Marshall, T.C, Slate, J., Kruuk, L.E.B. & Pemberton, J.M. 1998. Statisitical confidence for likelihood-based paternity inference in natural populations. Molecular Ecology, 7, 639–655.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCarthy, E.M. 2006. Handbook of avian hybrids of the world. New York: Oxford University Press, 608 pp.Google Scholar
Moller, A.P. 2000. Male parental care, female reproductive success, and extra pair paternity. Behavioral Ecology, 11, 161–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moore, P.J., Burg, T.M., Taylor, G.F. & Millar, C.D. 2001. Provenance and sex ratio of black-browed albatross, Thalassarche melanophrys, breeding on Campbell Island, New Zealand. Emu, 101, 329–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, R.A., Cooper, J. & Burg, T.M. 2018. Breeding-site vagrancy and hybridization in albatrosses. Ibis, 160, 907–913.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phillips, R.A., Gales, R., Baker, G., Double, M., Favero, M., Quintana, F., Tasker, M.L., Weimerskirch, H., Uhart, M. & Wolfaardt, A. 2016. The conservation status and priorities for albatrosses and large petrels. Biological Conservation, 201, 169–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prince, P.A. & Ricketts, C. 1981. Relationships between food supply and growth in albatrosses: an interspecific chick fostering experiment. Ornis Scandinavica, 12, 207–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prince, P.A., Rothery, P., Croxall, J.P. & Wood, A.G. 1994. Population dynamics of black-browed and grey-headed albatrosses Diomedea melanophris and D. chrysostoma at Bird Island, South Georgia. Ibis, 136, 50–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohwer, S., Harris, R.B. & Walsh, H.E. 2014. Rape and the prevalence of hybrids in broadly sympatric species: a case study using albatrosses. PeerJ, 2, e409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rutt, C. 2013. Hybridization of the black-footed and Laysan albatrosses. Western Birds, 44, 322–333.Google Scholar
Ryan, P.G., Phillips, R.A., Nel, D.C. & Wood, A.G. 2007. Breeding frequency in grey-headed albatrosses. Ibis, 149, 45–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slate, J., Marshall, T. & Pemberton, J. 2000. A retrospective assessment of the accuracy of the paternity inference program CERVUS. Molecular Ecology, 9, 801–808.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tickell, W.L.N. 1984. Behaviour of blackbrowed and greyheaded albatross at Bird Island, South Georgia. Ostrich, 55, 64–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tickell, W.L.N. 2000. Albatrosses. Sussex: Pica Press, 448 pp.Google Scholar
Warham, J. 1996. The behaviour, population biology and physiology of the petrels. Cambridge, UK: Academic Press, 616 pp.Google Scholar
Waugh, S.M., Weimerskirch, H., Cherel, Y. & Prince, P.A. 2000. Contrasting strategies of provisioning and chick growth in two sympatrically breeding albatross at Campbell Island, New Zealand. Condor, 102, 804–813.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weimerskirch, H., Jouventin, P. & Stahl, J.C. 1986. Comparative ecology of the six albatross species breeding in the Crozet Islands. Ibis, 128, 195–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wink, M. & Dyrcz, A. 1999. Mating systems in birds: a review of molecular studies. Acta Ornithologica, 34, 91–109.Google Scholar
Young, L.C., Zaun, B.J. & Vanderwerf, E.A. 2008. Successful same-sex pairing in Laysan albatross. Biology Letters, 4, 323–325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed