Oxidative stress affects sperm performance and ejaculate redox status in subordinate house sparrows

Abstract

Oxidative stress is the result of random cellular damage caused by reactive oxygen species that leads to cell death, ageing or illness. Most physiological processes can result in oxidative stress, which in turn has been identified as a major cause of infertility. In promiscuous species, the fertilizing ability of the ejaculate partly determines the male reproductive success. When dominance determines access to fertile females, theory predicts that lower ranking males should increase resource investment into enhancing ejaculate quality. We hypothesized that subordinate males should thus prioritize antioxidant protection of their ejaculates to protect them from oxidative stress. We put this hypothesis to the test by chronically dosing wild house sparrows with diquat (∼1 mg kg-1), a herbicide that increases pro-oxidant generation. We found that, although they increased their antioxidant levels in the ejaculate, diquat-treated males produced sperm with reduced velocity. Importantly, and contrary to our hypothesis, males at the bottom of the hierarchy suffered the largest reduction in sperm velocity. We suggest that resource access hinders individuals' ability to cope with environmental hazards. Our results point at oxidative stress as a likely physiological mechanism mediating ejaculate quality, while individual ability to access resources may play a role in constraining the extent to which such resources can be allocated into the ejaculate.