Inbreeding is widely hypothesized to shape mating systems and population persistence, but such effects will depend on which traits show inbreeding depression. Population and evolutionary consequences could be substantial if inbreeding decreases sperm performance and hence decreases male fertilisation success and female fertility. However, the magnitude of inbreeding depression in sperm performance traits has rarely been estimated in wild populations experiencing natural variation in inbreeding. Further, the hypothesis that inbreeding could increase within-ejaculate variation in sperm traits, and thereby further affect male fertilisation success has not been explicitly tested. We used a wild pedigreed song sparrow (Melospiza melodia) population, where frequent extra-pair copulations likely create strong post-copulatory competition for fertilisation success, to quantify effects of male coefficient of inbreeding (f) on key sperm performance traits. We found no evidence of inbreeding depression in sperm motility, longevity or velocity, and the within-ejaculate variance in sperm velocity did not increase with male f. Contrary to inferences from highly inbred captive and experimental populations, our results imply that moderate inbreeding will not necessarily constrain sperm performance in wild populations. Consequently, the widely observed individual-level and population-level inbreeding depression in male and female fitness may not stem from reduced sperm performance in inbred males.

Data for inbreeding depression in sperm performance (Losdat et al. 2017)Losdat et al_ ID in sperm song sparrows.txt