The impact of diet on sperm length in the long-tailed finch (Poephila acuticauda)

Kumkum Dubey, Callum S. McDiarmid*, Simon C. Griffith

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

Sperm traits are important in determining fertilisation success and are metabolically expensive to produce. There is little known about how energy acquisition and allocation affect sperm traits in avian taxa. This study assesses the impact of experimentally manipulated diet on long-tailed finch sperm by comparing the length of sperm components (head, midpiece, flagellum and total sperm) between the treatment groups (homogenous diet and diverse diet) and across time points (before and after the experiment). Diet homogeneity was manipulated as this may impact diet quality in a species that is usually fed a diversity of seed species to thrive in captivity. Our results showed no impact of diet on the length of different sperm components. These results contrast with findings of a similar recent study of the zebra finch which found a significant level of diet-affected plasticity in midpiece length. For both diet treatment groups in this study there was a slight but significant increase in head, flagellum and total sperm length over the treatment period. Despite this, all sperm components were highly repeatable, consistent with the finding from observational studies in passerine birds. The efficacy of our dietary manipulation was confirmed by a significant reduction in the saturation of bill colour in the long-tailed finches as a result of the homogenous diet, and a difference in body mass across the treatment groups.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere03141
Pages (from-to)1-7
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Avian Biology
Volume2024
Issue number1-2
Early online date19 Oct 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 9 Jan 2024

Bibliographical note

Copyright the Author(s) 2023. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

  • condition dependence
  • diet
  • ejaculate
  • long-tailed finch
  • sperm morphology

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