ArticlePloS one2017
Method matters: Experimental evidence for shorter avian sperm in faecal compared to abdominal massage samples.
Article in PloS one, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Are we truly helping those in need: A comprehensive assessment of semen technologies in wild bird species.Biodiversity and conservation · 2026Article
- 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
- Evidence of Paternal Effects on Telomere Length Increases in Early Life.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Article
- Male age and its association with reproductive traits in captive and wild house sparrows.Journal of evolutionary biology · 2019Article
- Mature sperm small-RNA profile in the sparrow: implications for transgenerational effects of age on fitness.Environmental epigenetics · 2019Article
- Male age is associated with extra-pair paternity, but not with extra-pair mating behaviour.Scientific reports · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Birds are model organisms in sperm biology. Previous work in zebra finches, suggested that sperm sampled from males' faeces and ejaculates do not differ in size. Here, we tested this assumption in a captive population of house sparrows, Passer domesticus. We compared sperm length in samples from three collection techniques: female dummy, faecal and abdominal massage samples. We found that sperm were significantly shorter in faecal than abdominal massage samples, which was explained by shorter heads and midpieces, but not flagella. This result might indicate that faecal sampled sperm could be less mature than sperm collected by abdominal massage. The female dummy method resulted in an insufficient number of experimental ejaculates because most males ignored it. In light of these results, we recommend using abdominal massage as a preferred method for avian sperm sampling. Where avian sperm cannot be collected by abdominal massage alone, we advise controlling for sperm sampling protocol statistically.
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