REPRODUCTIVE CONTROL OF ELEPHANTS

2018 ◽  
pp. 257-328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henk Bertschinger ◽  
Audrey Delsink ◽  
JJ van Altena ◽  
Jay Kirkpatrick ◽  
Hanno Killian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1904) ◽  
pp. 20190591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alima Qureshi ◽  
Andrew Aldersley ◽  
Brian Hollis ◽  
Alongkot Ponlawat ◽  
Lauren J. Cator

Aedes aegypti is an important disease vector and a major target of reproductive control efforts. We manipulated the opportunity for sexual selection in populations of Ae . aegypti by controlling the number of males competing for a single female. Populations exposed to higher levels of male competition rapidly evolved higher male competitive mating success relative to populations evolved in the absence of competition, with an evolutionary response visible after only five generations. We also detected correlated evolution in other important mating and life-history traits, such as acoustic signalling, fecundity and body size. Our results indicate that there is ample segregating variation for determinants of male mating competitiveness in wild populations and that increased male mating success trades-off with other important life-history traits. The mating conditions imposed on laboratory-reared mosquitoes are likely a significant determinant of male mating success in populations destined for release.


2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1741) ◽  
pp. 3217-3222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucinda P. Lawson ◽  
Robert K. Vander Meer ◽  
DeWayne Shoemaker

Supergenes are clusters of tightly linked loci maintained in specific allelic combinations to facilitate co-segregation of genes governing adaptive phenotypes. In species where strong selection potentially operates at different levels (e.g. eusocial Hymenoptera), positive selection acting within a population to maintain specific allelic combinations in supergenes may have unexpected consequences for some individuals, including the preservation of disadvantageous traits. The nuclear gene Gp-9 in the invasive fire ant Solenopsis invicta is part of a non-recombining, polymorphic supergene region associated with polymorphism in social organization as well as traits affecting physiology, fecundity and behaviour. We show that both male reproductive success and facultative polyandry in queens have a simple genetic basis and are dependent on male Gp-9 genotype. Gp-9 b males are unable to maintain exclusive reproductive control over their mates such that queens mated to Gp-9 b males remain highly receptive to remating. Queens mated to multiple Gp-9 B males are rare. This difference appears to be independent of mating plug production in fertile males of each Gp-9 genotype. However, Gp-9 b males have significantly lower sperm counts than Gp-9 B males, which could be a cue to females to seek additional mates. Despite the reduced fitness of Gp-9 b males, polygyne worker-induced selective mortality of sexuals lacking b -like alleles coupled with the overall success of the polygyne social form act to maintain the Gp-9 b allele within nature. Our findings highlight how strong worker-induced selection acting to maintain the Gp-9 b allele in the polygyne social form may simultaneously result in reduced reproductive fitness for individual sexual offspring.


Author(s):  
Tracy A. Thomas

This chapter explores Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s views on women’s reproductive rights. It traces the voluntary motherhood movement among women’s rights activists and social reformers, which endorsed women’s singular right to choose sexual relations and procreation. Stanton took this concept a step further, advocating eugenic ideas of enlightened motherhood as a method of birth control. The chapter juxtaposes Stanton’s work for reproductive control against the abortion movement of the latter nineteenth century, which eventually criminalized abortion in all states. Following Stanton’s interest in the trial of Hester Vaughan for infanticide, the chapter reveals how Stanton used the trial to expose gendered inequalities of the law, including women’s exclusion as judges, lawyers, legislators, and jurors.


Affilia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Della J. Winters ◽  
Adria Ryan McLaughlin

In the United States, between 1907 and 1978, the proliferation of eugenic state practices routinely targeted institutionalized women with legalized involuntary sterilization. Sterilization laws and policies were a form of reproductive control, which predominantly impacted women from marginalized communities. After the implementation of federal regulations prohibiting involuntary sterilization practices, state agencies continued to engage in coercive sterilization under the guise of “voluntariness.” Using a reproductive justice framework, we introduce a concept of reproductive control embedded within the carceral state. Tracing historical sterilization practices and examining the use of long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARC), we argue that LARC represents a different form of involuntary sterilization. The emergence of LARC as a highly effective, nonagentive, and mediated form of contraception for vulnerable populations demands interrogation. We identify the use of LARC as soft sterilization, which is both related to and distinct from other forms of reproductive control. As such, reproductive autonomy is not possible without the destruction of the carceral state.


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