ArticleProceedings. Biological sciences2013
Evolution of sperm structure and energetics in passerine birds.
Article in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 53 citations in OpenAlex.
- Enhanced endocrine-metabolic support and axonemal assembly in high-sperm-motility geese: insights from testicular cellular heterogeneity by scRNA-seq.Poultry science · 2026Article
- Sperm mtDNA Copy Number Is Not Associated With Midpiece Size Among Songbirds.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Article
- Kinematic and Morphometric Assessment of Fresh Semen, before, during and after Mating Period in Brahman Bulls.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Flagellum tapering and midpiece volume in songbird spermatozoa.Journal of morphology · 2022Article
- Fertilization mode differentially impacts the evolution of vertebrate sperm components.Nature communications · 2022Article
- The impact of diet quality on the velocity, morphology and normality of sperm in the zebra finch Taeniopygia guttata.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Article
- Sperm bauplan and function and underlying processes of sperm formation and selection.Physiological reviews · 2022Review
- A sex chromosome inversion is associated with copy number variation of mitochondrial DNA in zebra finch sperm.Royal Society open science · 2021Article
- Article
- Pre- and post-copulatory traits working in concert: sexual dichromatism in passerines is associated with sperm morphology.Biology letters · 2020Article
- A trade-off between thickness and length in the zebra finch sperm mid-piece.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
- Sperm morphology, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) concentration and swimming velocity: unexpected relationships in a passerine bird.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2016Article
- Article
- Long sperm fertilize more eggs in a bird.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2015Article
- Patterns of sperm damage in Chernobyl passerine birds suggest a trade-off between sperm length and integrity.Biology letters · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Spermatozoa exhibit considerable interspecific variability in size and shape. Our understanding of the adaptive significance of this diversity, however, remains limited. Determining how variation in sperm structure translates into variation in sperm performance will contribute to our understanding of the evolutionary diversification of sperm form. Here, using data from passerine birds, we test the hypothesis that longer sperm swim faster because they have more available energy. We found that sperm with longer midpieces have higher levels of intracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP), but that greater energy reserves do not translate into faster-swimming sperm. Additionally, we found that interspecific variation in sperm ATP concentration is not associated with the level of sperm competition faced by males. Finally, using Bayesian methods, we compared the evolutionary trajectories of sperm morphology and ATP content, and show that both traits have undergone directional evolutionary change. However, in contrast to recent suggestions in other taxa, we show that changes in ATP are unlikely to have preceded changes in morphology in passerine sperm. These results suggest that variable selective pressures are likely to have driven the evolution of sperm traits in different taxa, and highlight fundamental biological differences between taxa with internal and external fertilization, as well as those with and without sperm storage.
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