Complex patterns of multivariate selection on the ejaculate of a broadcast spawning marine invertebrate

Assessing how selection operates on several, potentially interacting, components of the ejaculate is a challenging endeavour. Ejaculates can be subject to natural and/or sexual selection, which can impose both linear (directional) and nonlinear (stabilizing, disruptive and correlational) selection on different ejaculate components. Most previous studies have examined linear selection of ejaculate components and, consequently, we know very little about patterns of nonlinear selection on the ejaculate. Even less is known about how selection acts on the ejaculate as a functionally integrated unit, despite evidence of covariance among ejaculate components. Here we assess how selection acts on multiple ejaculate components simultaneously in the broadcast spawning sessile invertebrate Mytilus galloprovincialis using the statistical tools of multivariate selection analyses. Our analyses of relative fertilization rates revealed complex patterns of selection on sperm velocity, motility and morph...