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Ecology and evolution
Jun, 2021;11 (12): 7634-7646.

No evidence for female kin association, indications for extragroup paternity, and sex-biased dispersal patterns in wild western gorillas.

Shelly Masi, Frédéric Austerlitz, Chloé Chabaud, Sophie Lafosse, Nina Marchi, Myriam Georges, Françoise Dessarps-Freichey, Silvia Miglietta, Andrea Sotto-Mayor, Aurore San Galli, Ellen Meulman, Emmanuelle Pouydebat, Sabrina Krief, Angelique Todd, Terence Fuh, Thomas Breuer, Laure Ségurel
Author Information
  1. Shelly Masi: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France. ORCID
  2. Frédéric Austerlitz: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  3. Chloé Chabaud: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France. ORCID
  4. Sophie Lafosse: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  5. Nina Marchi: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  6. Myriam Georges: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  7. Françoise Dessarps-Freichey: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  8. Silvia Miglietta: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  9. Andrea Sotto-Mayor: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  10. Aurore San Galli: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  11. Ellen Meulman: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  12. Emmanuelle Pouydebat: Department Adaptations du Vivant UMR7179 MECADEV CNRS/MNHN Paris France.
  13. Sabrina Krief: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
  14. Angelique Todd: Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas World Wide Fund for Nature Bangui Central African Republic.
  15. Terence Fuh: Dzanga-Sangha Protected Areas World Wide Fund for Nature Bangui Central African Republic.
  16. Thomas Breuer: Wildlife Conservation Society Global Conservation Program Bronx NY USA. ORCID
  17. Laure Ségurel: UMR7206 Eco-anthropologie Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle CNRS Université de Paris; Musée de l'Homme Paris France.
PMID: 34188840 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.7596

Abstract

Characterizing animal dispersal patterns and the rational behind individuals' transfer choices is a long-standing question of interest in evolutionary biology. In wild western gorillas (), a one-male polygynous species, previous genetic findings suggested that, when dispersing, females might favor groups with female kin to promote cooperation, resulting in higher-than-expected within-group female relatedness. The extent of male dispersal remains unclear with studies showing conflicting results. To investigate male and female dispersal patterns and extragroup paternity, we analyzed long-term field observations, including female spatial proximity data, together with genetic data (10 autosomal microsatellites) on individuals from a unique set of four habituated western gorilla groups, and four additional extragroup males (49 individuals in total). The majority of offspring (25 of 27) were sired by the group male. For two offspring, evidence for extragroup paternity was found. Contrarily to previous findings, adult females were not significantly more related within groups than across groups. Consistently, adult female relatedness within groups did not correlate with their spatial proximity inferred from behavioral data. Adult females were similarly related to adult males from their group than from other groups. Using statistics, we found significant genetic structure and a pattern of isolation by distance, indicating limited dispersal in this species. Comparing relatedness among females and among males revealed that males disperse farer than females, as expected in a polygamous species. Our study on habituated western gorillas shed light on the dispersal dynamics and reproductive behavior of this polygynous species and challenge some of the previous results based on unhabituated groups.

Keywords

dispersal great apes kin association paternity polygynous species western gorillas

Associated Data

Dryad | 10.5061/dryad.t4b8gtj1s

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