Experimental evidence for antagonistic effects of sperm competition in two sea urchin species

Abstract

Sperm competition can occur when sperm from two or more males compete for fertilization of a batch of eggs. While it has been extensively studied in internal fertilizers, it remains poorly under-stood in external fertilizers. To investigate how sperm competition affects fertilization under sperm limitation, we conducted controlled experiments on two sea urchin species: Paracentrotus lividus and Dendraster excentricus. Eggs from a single female were exposed to sperm from three individ-ual males separately (non-competitive treatment) or to a pooled sample from three males (competi-tive treatment). We measured fertilization success as proportion of eggs fertilized after two hours and assessed sperm motility as percentage of motile sperm and curvilinear velocity. For P. lividus , we estimated the sperm concentrations where fertilization success was 50% of maximum observed fertilization success (F50), and the fertilization efficiency of the sperm (Fe), i.e. the likelihood that a sperm - egg encounter results in a fertilizing contact, using the fertilization kinetics model of Styan (1998). For D. excentricus, fertilization success was measured at a sperm concentration expected to produce 50% fertilization success. Sperm competition reduced fertilization success and increased F50 compared to non-competitive treatments, suggesting antagonistic effects that may compromise fertilization under sperm-limited conditions in external fertilizers.