caa a22 4500 445857641 CHVBK 20180317145433.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110801xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s10592-011-0200-6 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s10592-011-0200-6 Prevalence of multiple mating by female common dormice, Muscardinus avellanarius [Elektronische Daten] [Darlina Naim, Sandra Telfer, Stephanie Sanderson, Stephen Kemp, Phillip Watts] Mating behaviour is an important component of species' life histories. Knowledge of natural patterns of mating can lead also to more effective management strategies for populations of conservation concern. Despite a high conservation profile many aspects of the biology of the common dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) remain unknown, potentially limiting present conservation efforts. We determine the mating behaviour of M. avellanarius at two woodland sites in the UK: (1) Bontuchel (a natural population in Wales) and (2) Wych (a population in England that was established by reintroducing captive-bred animals) by genotyping mothers and litters at a panel of 10 microsatellite loci. Adult female body weight positively correlates with litter size and no apparent reproductive skew was evident. We found that multiple mating by female dormice is prevalent at both sites, with litters containing three or more offspring sired by multiple fathers; moreover, multiple mating is adopted by released animals even after a period of captive breeding where females are mated singly or as a breeding pair. We also present evidence for low proportion of fathers identified in our samples that probably related to unsampled individuals and/or larger than anticipated population sizes. This first report of mating behaviour in M. avellanarius highlights the role of genetic studies to uncover species' reproductive behaviours and include these data for conservation management. Springer Science+Business Media B.V., 2011 Behaviour nationallicence Conservation nationallicence Microsatellite nationallicence Multiple mating nationallicence Reproduction nationallicence Naim Darlina Division of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZB, Liverpool, UK aut Telfer Sandra Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, Aberdeen, UK aut Sanderson Stephanie North of England Zoological Society, Chester Zoo, CH2 1LH, Upton-by-Chester, UK aut Kemp Stephen Division of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZB, Liverpool, UK aut Watts Phillip Division of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZB, Liverpool, UK aut Conservation Genetics Springer Netherlands 12/4(2011-08-01), 971-979 1566-0621 12:4<971 2011 12 10592 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-011-0200-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10592-011-0200-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Naim Darlina Division of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZB, Liverpool, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Telfer Sandra Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, Aberdeen, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Sanderson Stephanie North of England Zoological Society, Chester Zoo, CH2 1LH, Upton-by-Chester, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kemp Stephen Division of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZB, Liverpool, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Watts Phillip Division of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZB, Liverpool, UK aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Conservation Genetics Springer Netherlands 12/4(2011-08-01), 971-979 1566-0621 12:4<971 2011 12 10592 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer