Author(s): Banerjee, Shreya M; Frey, Amy; Kurle, Carolyn M; Perrault, Justin R; Stewart, Kelly R | Abstract: Understanding species’ mating systems provides important information about their ecology, life history, and behavior. Direct observations of mating behaviors can be challenging, but molecular techniques can reveal information about mating systems and paternal identity in difficult-to-observe species such as sea turtles. Genetic markers can be used to assess the paternity of a clutch and to assign hatchlings to a father. Leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea sometimes mate with multiple individuals, resulting in clutches with mixed paternity; however, the effects of multiple paternity on hatchling quality are unclear. Leatherback hatchlings at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands, exhibit visible variation in individual body size, sometimes within the same clutch. We collected morphometrics and tissue samples from hatchlings across multiple nesting seasons (2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, and 2016) and found that hatchlings exhibited small but statistically significant differences in morphometrics between years. We used maternal and hatchling microsatellite genotypes to reconstruct paternal genotypes, assigning fathers to each hatchling. We found multiple paternity in 5 of 17 clutches analyzed and compared differences in morphometrics between full-siblings with differences between half-siblings. We found no significant differences between morphometrics of hatchlings from the same mother but different fathers. We compared within-clutch variances in morphometrics for clutches with and without multiple paternity and found no significant difference in morphological variation between them. Therefore, we could not attribute differences in hatchling size within a clutch to paternal contribution. Understanding other factors affecting hatchling morphology, and other possible fitness metrics, may reveal insights into the benefits, or lack thereof, of polyandry in sea turtles.

中文翻译：

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美属维尔京群岛桑迪角国家野生动物保护区棱皮龟 (Dermochelys coriacea) 幼龟的形态变异

作者（S）：班纳吉，Shreya M；弗雷，艾米；库尔，卡罗琳 M；佩罗，贾斯汀 R；斯图尔特，凯利 R | 摘要：了解物种的交配系统可提供有关其生态、生活史和行为的重要信息。直接观察交配行为可能具有挑战性，但分子技术可以揭示有关难以观察的物种（如海龟）的交配系统和父系身份的信息。遗传标记可用于评估一窝的亲子关系并将孵化的幼崽分配给父亲。棱皮龟 Dermochelys coriacea 有时会与多个个体交配，导致亲子关系混杂；然而，多重父系对孵化质量的影响尚不清楚。美属维尔京群岛圣克罗伊岛桑迪角国家野生动物保护区的棱皮龟，在个体体型上表现出明显的变化，有时在同一个离合器内。我们从多个筑巢季节（2009 年、2012 年、2013 年、2015 年和 2016 年）的幼龟中收集了形态测量学和组织样本，发现幼龟在不同年份的形态测量学上表现出很小但具有统计学意义的差异。我们使用母体和幼体微卫星基因型来重建父系基因型，为每个幼体分配父亲。我们在 17 个离合器中的 5 个中发现了多重父子关系，并比较了全兄弟姐妹之间形态测量学的差异与半兄弟姐妹之间的差异。我们发现来自同一个母亲但不同父亲的幼体的形态测量学没有显着差异。我们比较了有和没有多父权的离合器的形态测量学的离合器内差异，发现它们之间的形态变化没有显着差异。因此，我们不能将一窝幼崽大小的差异归因于父系的贡献。了解影响孵化形态的其他因素和其他可能的健康指标，可能会揭示对海龟一妻多夫的好处或缺乏好处的见解。