Microsatellite diversity predicts recruitment of sibling great reed warblers
Författare
Summary, in English
Inbreeding increases the level of homozygosity, which in turn might depress fitness. In addition, individuals having the same inbreeding coefficient (e.g. siblings) vary in homozygosity. The potential fitness effects of variation in homozygosity that is unrelated to the inbreeding coefficient have seldom been examined. Here, we present evidence from wild birds that genetic variation at five microsatellite loci predicts the recruitment success of siblings. Dyads of full-sibling great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), one individual of which became a recruit to the natal population while the other did not return, were selected for the analysis. Each dyad was matched for sex and size. Local recruitment is strongly lied to fitness in great reed warblers as the majority of offspring die before adulthood, philopatry predominates among surviving individuals and emigrants have lower lifetime fitness. Paired tests showed that recruited individuals had higher individual heterozygosity and higher genetic diversity, which was measured as the mean squared distance between microsatellite alleles (mean d(2)), than their non-recruited siblings. These relationships suggest that the microsatellite markers, which are generally assumed to be neutral, cosegregated with genes exhibiting genetic variation for fitness.
Avdelning/ar
Publiceringsår
2001
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
1287-1291
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences
Volym
268
Issue
1473
Fulltext
- Available as PDF - 116 kB
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Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Royal Society Publishing
Ämne
- Biological Sciences
Status
Published
Projekt
- Long-term study of great reed warblers
Forskningsgrupp
- Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 1471-2954