Extra-pair paternity in the strongly monogamous Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans has no apparent benefits for females

Global population structure and taxonomy of the wandering albatross species complex.

A recent taxonomic revision of wandering albatross elevated each of the four subspecies to species. We used mitochondrial DNA and nine microsatellite markers to study the phylogenetic relationships of three species (Diomedea antipodensis, D. exulans and D. gibsoni) in the wandering albatross complex. A small number of samples from a fourth species, D. dabbenena, were analysed using mitochondria...

Courtship Behaviour of the Wandering Albatross Diomedea Exulans at Bird Island , South Georgia

Extra-pair paternity in waved albatrosses: genetic relationships among females, social mates and genetic sires

Interactions among close relatives are expected to be common in colonially breeding species, species with limited geographic distributions such as island endemics, or those with limited natal or breeding dispersal. The waved albatross, Phoebastria irrorata, a colonially nesting, endemic seabird in Galápagos, Ecuador, presents an opportunity to closely examine relationships between genetic simil...

Demographic Responses to Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in the Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans)

One of the major challenges in ecological research is the elucidation of physiological mechanisms that underlie the demographic traits of wild animals. We have assessed whether a marker of plasma oxidative stress (TBARS) and plasma haptoglobin (protein of the acute inflammatory phase response) measured at time t predict five demographic parameters (survival rate, return rate to the breeding col...

Lifespan, lifetime reproductive performance and paternity loss of within-pair and extra-pair offspring in the coal tit Periparus ater.

The hypothesis that females of socially monogamous species obtain indirect benefits (good or compatible genes) from extra-pair mating behaviour has received enormous attention but much less generally accepted support. Here we ask whether selection for adult survival and fecundity or sexual selection contribute to indirect selection of the extra-pair mating behaviour in socially monogamous coal ...