Abstract: When females copulate with multiple males the potential exists for female sperm choice. Females may increase the probability of being fertilized by preferred males by selectively retaining their sperm while ejecting the sperm of unfavoured males. An alternative criterion to male quality for female sperm choice may be sperm age because old sperm degrade and can lead to zygote death or unhealthy offspring. Here, we report that in a genetically monogamous bird, the black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla, females eject their mates' sperm according to when the copulations were performed. Following copulations that were performed approximately two weeks before egg laying, females ejected inseminations at high frequencies while retaining inseminations that occurred soon before laying. Females that suffered hatching failure had ejected sperm from early copulations less than half as frequently as females whose entire clutches hatched. Furthermore, chicks that hatched from eggs fertilized by old sperm were in poor condition relative to those fertilized by young sperm. These findings support the 'young sperm' hypothesis, which predicts that females choose fresh sperm to avoid reproductive failure and are the first to show intra-male sperm choice by females.

Abstract: What are the long-term consequences of invasive species? After invasion, how long do ecosystems require to reach a new equilibrium? Answering these questions requires long-term, high-resolution data that are vanishingly rare. We combined the analysis of environmental DNA extracted from a lake sediment core, coprophilous fungi, and sedimentological analyses to reconstruct 600 years of ecosystem dynamics on a sub-Antarctic island and to identify the impact of invasive rabbits. Plant communities remained stable from AD 1400 until the 1940s, when the DNA of invasive rabbits was detected in sediments. Rabbit detection corresponded to abrupt changes of plant communities, with a continuous decline of a dominant plant species. Furthermore, erosion rate abruptly increased with rabbit abundance. Rabbit impacts were very fast and were stronger than the effects of climate change during the 20th century. Lake sediments can allow an integrated temporal analysis of ecosystems, revealing the impact of invasive species over time and improving our understanding of underlying mechanisms. Rabbits have had a stronger impact on the landscape and plant communities of a remote island than one century of climate change. Rabbits have had a stronger impact on the landscape and plant communities of a remote island than one century of climate change.