Appendix 1. Some examples of empirical evidenceof pre- and post-meioticsperm senescence.
Pre-meiotic / Species / Effect / Reference
Decline in fertility potentially due to reduced sperm quality / Domestic fowl,
Gallus g. domesticus / Reduced fertilising efficiency beyond 37th week of age / [1]
Bluegill sunfish,
Lepomis machrochirus / Increased sperm swimming speed.
No effect on sperm tail length / [2]
Striped bass,
Morone saxatilis, / Males of intermediate age produce more sperm of highest longevity / [3]
Fruitfly,
Drosophila melanogaster / Reduced ejaculate defensive ability
No effect on ejaculate offensive ability* / [4]
Cowpea seed beetle, Callosobruchus maculatus / Reduced fertilisation success / [5]
Hide beetle,
Dermestes maculatus / Reduced fertilisation success with and without* competition. Increased risk of aspermic copulations*. / [6,7]
Rove beetle,
Aleochara bilineata / Increased sperm length * / [8]
Bulb mite,
Rhizoglyphus robini / Reduced fertilising efficiency in sperm competition / [9]
Reduced offspring fitness viability / Brown rat,
Rattus norvegicus / Reduced offspring viability, decrease in average foetal weight / [10]
Domestic fowl,
G. g. domesticus / No effect / [11]
Barn swallow,
Hirundo rustica / Reduced offspring viability / [12]
Fruitfly,
D. melanogaster / Reduced larval viability *† / [13]
“ / Weak positive effect on offspring longevity / [14]
Sandfly,
Lutzomyia longipalpis / Lower hatching success of females mated to old males *† / [15]
Dungfly,
Sepsis cynipsea / No effect / [16]
Post-meiotic
Reduced sperm quality / House mouse,
M. musculus / Negative effect on prometaphase stage of fertilisation due to in vitro storage / [17]
Domestic fowl,
G. g. domesticus / Male storage increases sperm morphological abnormalities and reduces fertilising efficiency. / [18-20]
“ / Female sperm storage results in degeneration of sperm plasma membrane, dispersal of nuclear chromatin, distended mitochondria and microtubule disorganisation / [21]
Giant cuttlefish,
Sepia apama / Reduced proportion of motile sperm in spermatophore and spermatangia / [22]
Hide beetle,
Dermestes maculatus / No evidence of decline in fertilising efficiency with sperm storage in male / [23]
Sea urchin,
Lytechinus variegatus / Sperm velocity declined and lower fertilisation rates as sperm age / [24]
Bryozoan,
Celleporella hyaline / Reduced fertilising efficiency / [25]
Offspring fitness / Mouse,
Mus musculus / No effect of male sexual rest on fertility, but increased chromosomal anomalies / [26]
Domestic fowl,
G. g. domesticus / Reduced hatching success and embryo mortality with female storage / [18, 27-29]
Kittiwake,
Rissa tridactyla / Reduced hatching success† and chick condition with female storage / [30, 31]
Bengalese finch, Lonchura striata / No effect of female storage on hatching success / [32]
Painted dragon lizards, Ctenophorus pictus / Prolonged female sperm storage results in a 23% higher probability of producing sons than daughters. / [33]
Pond turtle,
Emys orbicularis / Smaller, lighter hatchlings possibly due to prolonged female sperm storage / [34]
Dung fly,
Scatophaga stercoraria. / No difference between offspring produced with fresh sperm or following prolonged female sperm storage in offspring size, relative survival rate, development time, or fluctuating asymmetry, but higher male ratios with prolonged sperm storage*. / [35]
* Virgin males used, † No clear distinction between infertility and zygote inviability

1.Weil, S. et al. (1996) Intratesticular spermatozoa retention in low fertility ageingroosters is related to malformations of Sertoli cell ectoplasmic specializations.Reprod. Biol. 275, 317-325.

2.Casselman, S. J. and Montgomerie, R. (2004) Sperm traits in relation to male qualityin colonial spawning bluegill. J. Fish Biol. 64, 1700-1711.

3.Vuthiphandchai, V. and Zohar, Y. (1999) Age-related sperm quality of captivestriped bass Morone saxatilis. J. World Aquaculture Soc. 30, 65-72.

4.Service, P. M. and Fales, A. J. (1993) Evolution of delayed reproductive senescence in male fruit flies - Sperm competition. Genetica 91, 111-125.

5.Ofuya, T. I. 1995. Multiple Mating and Its Consequences in Males of Callosobruchusmaculatus (F) (Coleoptera, Bruchidae). J. Stored Products Res. 31, 71-75.

6.Jones, T. M., et al. (2007) Age-related sperm transfer and sperm competitive abilityin the male hide beetle. Behav. Ecol. 18, 251-258.

7.Jones, T. M. and Elgar, M. A. (2004) The role of male age, sperm age and matinghistory on fecundity and fertilization success in the hide beetle. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond.B 271, 1311-1318.

8.Green, K. (2003). Age-related variation in mean sperm length, in the rove beetleAleochara bilineata. J. Insect Physiol. 49, 993-998.

9.Radwan, J. et al. (2005) Age dependence of male mating ability and spermcompetition success in the bulb mite. Anim. Behav. 69, 1101-1105.

10.Serre, V. and Robaire, B. (1998) Paternal age affects fertility and progeny outcome inthe brown Norway rat. Fertil. Steril. 70, 625-631.

11.Hocking, P. M. and Bernard, R. (2000) Effects of the age of male and female broilerbreeders on sexual behaviour, fertility and hatchability of eggs. Brit. Poult. Sci. 41,370-376.

12.Saino, N. et al. (2002) Mate fidelity, senescence in breeding performance andreproductive trade-offs in the barn swallow. J. Anim. Ecol. 71, 309-319.

13.Price, D. K. and Hansen, T. F. (1998) How does offspring quality change with age in male Drosophila melanogaster? Behav. Genet. 28, 395-402.

14.Priest, N. K. et al. (2002) The role of parental age effects on the evolution of aging.Evolution 56, 927-935

15.Jones, T. M. et al. (2000) Adaptive female choice for middle-aged mates in a lekkingsandfly. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 267, 681-686.

16.Martin, O. Y. et al. (2003) Male age, mating probability and mating costs in the flySepsis cynipsea. Evol. Ecol. Res. 5, 119-129.

17.Smith, A. L. and Lodge, J. R. (1987) Interactions of aged gametes – In vitro fertilization using in vitro-aged sperm and in vivo-aged ova in the mouse. GameteRes. 16, 47-56.

18.Nalbandov, A. and Card, L. E. (1943) Effect of stale sperm on fertility and hatchability of chicken eggs. Poult. Sci. 22, 218-226.

19.El Jack, M. H. and Lake, P. E. (1966) The effect of resting roosters from ejaculationon the quality of spermatozoa in semen. J. Reprod. Fert. 11, 489-491.

20.Van Voorst, A. and Leenstra, F. R. (1995) Fertility rate of daily collected and cryopreserved fowl semen. Poult. Sci.74, 136-140.

21.Koyanagi, F. and Nishiyama, H. (1981) Disintegration of spermatozoa in the infundibular sperm-host glands of the fowl. Cell Tissue Res. 214, 81-87.

22.Naud, M. J. and Havenhand, J. N. (2006) Sperm motility and longevity in the giantcuttlefish, Sepia apama (Mollusca: Cephalopoda). Marine Biol. 148, 559-556.

23.Jones, T. M. and Elgar, M. A. (2004) The role of male age, sperm age and matinghistory on fecundity and fertilization success in the hide beetle. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond.B 271, 1311-1318.

24.Levitan, D. R. (2000) Sperm velocity and longevity trade off each other andinfluence fertilization in the sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond.B 267, 531-534.

25.Manriquez, P. H. et al. (2001) Age-dependent loss of fertility in water-borne spermof the bryozoan Celleporella hyaline. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 224, 87-92.

26.Martin-deLeon, P. A. and Boice, M. L. (1985) Sperm aging in the male after sexual rest - Contribution to chromosome anomalies. Gamete Res.12, 151-163.

27.Dharmarajan, M. (1950) Effects on the embryo of staleness of the sperm at the time offertilization in the domestic hen. Nature 165, 398.

28.Lodge, J. R. et al. (1971) Relationship of in vivo sperm storage interval to fertilityand embryonic survival in chicken. Biol. Reprod. 5, 252.

29.Lodge, J. R. et al. (1974) Chromosome-Aberrations in Embryos from in vivo agedchicken sperm. Poult. Sci. 53, 1816-1819.

30.Wagner, R. H. et al. (2004) Female choice of young sperm in a genetically monogamous bird. Proc. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 271, S134-S137.

31.White, J. (2007) Stratégies d'accouplement et conflits sexuelsdans un contexte monogame: Le cas de la Mouette tridactyle Rissa tridactyla. Ph. D. Thesis, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris.

32.Birkhead, T. R. (1992) Sperm storage and the fertile period in the Bengalese finch.Auk 109, 620-625.

33.Olsson, M. et al. (2007) Sons are made from old stores: sperm storage effects on sex ratio in a lizard. Biol. Letters 3, 491-493.

34.Roques, S. et al. (2006) Sperm storage and low incidence of multiple paternity in theEuropean pond turtle, Emys orbicularis: A secure but costly strategy? Biol. Conserv.129, 236-243.

35.Stockley, P. and Simmons, L. W. (1998) Consequences of sperm displacement forfemale dung flies, Scatophaga stercoraria. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 265: 1755-1760.