TY  - JOUR
A1  - Turjeman, Sondra Feldman
A1  - Centeno-Cuadros, Alejandro
A1  - Eggers, Ute
A1  - Rotics, Shay
A1  - Blas, Julio
A1  - Fiedler, Wolfgang
A1  - Kaatz, Michael
A1  - Jeltsch, Florian
A1  - Wikelski, Martin
A1  - Nathan, Ran
T1  - Extra-pair paternity in the socially monogamous white stork (Ciconia ciconia) is fairly common and independent of local density
JF  - Scientific reports
N2  - Although many birds are socially monogamous, most (>75%) studied species are not strictly genetically monogamous, especially under high breeding density. We used molecular tools to reevaluate the reproductive strategy of the socially monogamous white stork (Ciconia ciconia) and examined local density effects. DNA samples of nestlings (Germany, Spain) were genotyped and assigned relationships using a two-program maximum likelihood classification. Relationships were successfully classified in 79.2% of German (n = 120) and 84.8% of Spanish (n = 59) nests. For each population respectively, 76.8% (n = 73) and 66.0% (n = 33) of nests contained only full-siblings, 10.5% (n = 10) and 18.0% (n = 9) had half-siblings (at least one nestling with a different parent), 3.2% (n = 3) and 10.0% (n = 5) had unrelated nestlings (at least two nestlings, each with different parents), and 9.5% (n = 9) and 6.0% (n = 3) had “not full-siblings” (could not differentiate between latter two cases). These deviations from strict monogamy place the white stork in the 59th percentile for extra-pair paternity among studied bird species. Although high breeding density generally increases extra-pair paternity, we found no significant association with this species’ mating strategies. Thus although genetic monogamy is indeed prominent in the white stork, extra-pair paternity is fairly common compared to other bird species and cannot be explained by breeding density.
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep27976
SN  - 2045-2322
VL  - 6
PB  - Nature Publ. Group
CY  - London
ER  -