ArticleNature communications2016
Ovarian fluid allows directional cryptic female choice despite external fertilization.
Article in Nature communications, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Male alternative reproductive tactics and sperm competition: a meta-analysis.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2022Pooled it
- The role of female reproductive fluid in mediating reproductive isolation between ecotypes of the three-spined stickleback.Zoological letters · 2026Article
- Thirty Years of the Biology of Spermatozoa: The Rise and Future of an Evolutionary Paradigm.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Limited inbreeding avoidance at the gamete level despite inbreeding depression in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar).The Journal of animal ecology · 2025Article
- Patterns of sperm swimming behaviour depend on male mating tactic and spawning environment in chinook salmon.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Is mating failure caused by cryptic male choice in the seed bugEcology and evolution · 2024Article
- Sperm performance in the race for fertilization, the influence of female reproductive fluid.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Selection among critically endangered landlocked salmon (Evolutionary applications · 2024Article
- Female reproductive fluid and male seminal fluid: a non-gametic conflict for post-mating control.Biology letters · 2023Article
- Can cryptic female choice prevent invasive hybridization in external fertilizing fish?Evolutionary applications · 2023Article
- The Use of Ovarian Fluid as Natural Fertilization Medium for Cryopreserved Semen in Mediterranean Brown Trout: The Effects on Sperm Swimming Performance.Veterinary sciences · 2023Article
- Frequency-dependent viscosity of salmon ovarian fluid has biophysical implications for sperm-egg interactions.The Journal of experimental biology · 2023Article
- Cryptic female choice within individual males - A neglected component of the postmating sexual selection?Journal of evolutionary biology · 2022Review
- Separating the effects of paternal age and mating history: Evidence for sex-specific paternal effect in eastern mosquitofish.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2022Article
- Sperm Physiological Response to Female Serum-Potential New Insights into the Reproductive Incompatibility Diagnostics.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Article
- Evolution of innate behavioral strategies through competitive population dynamics.PLoS computational biology · 2022Article
- Female-induced selective modification of sperm protein SUMOylation-potential mechanistic insights into the non-random fertilization in humans.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2022Article
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- Fertilization mode drives sperm length evolution across the animal tree of life.Nature ecology & evolution · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In species with internal fertilization, females can favour certain males over others, not only before mating but also within the female's reproductive tract after mating. Here, we ask whether such directional post-mating (that is, cryptic) female mate choice can also occur in species with external fertilization. Using an in vitro sperm competition experiment, we demonstrate that female ovarian fluid (ovarian fluid) changes the outcome of sperm competition by decreasing the importance of sperm number thereby increasing the relative importance of sperm velocity. We further show that ovarian fluid does not differentially affect sperm from alternative male phenotypes, but generally enhances sperm velocity, motility, straightness and chemoattraction. Under natural conditions, female ovarian fluid likely increases the paternity of the preferred parental male phenotype, as these males release fewer but faster sperm. These results imply females have greater control over fertilization and potential to exert selection on males in species with external fertilization than previously thought possible.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.