Pérez-González, J., Mateos, C., Carranza, J. (2009). Polygyny can increase rather than decrease genetic diversity contributed by males relative to females: evidence from red deer. Molecular Ecology 18: 1591-1600.
Polygyny is expected to erode genetic variability by reducing the diversity of geneticcontribution of males to the next generation, although empirical evidence shows thatgenetic variability in polygynous populations is not lost as rapidly as expected. We usedmicrosatellite markers to study the genetic variability transmitted by mothers and fathersto offspring during a reproductive season in wild populations of a polygynous mammal,the red deer. Contrary to expectations, we found that males contributed more genetic diversitythan females. Also, we compared study populations with different degrees of polygyny tofind that polygyny was not related to a decrease in genetic diversity contributed by males.On the contrary, when population genetic diversity was relatively low, polygyny associatedwith higher genetic diversity of paternal lineage. Our results show that sexual selection, byfavouring heterozygote individuals, may compensate the potential reduction of effectivepopulation size caused by polygyny, thus contributing to explain why genetic diversity isnot depleted in polygynous systems.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2009.04150.x