The browser you are using is not supported by this website. All versions of Internet Explorer are no longer supported, either by us or Microsoft (read more here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Please use a modern browser to fully experience our website, such as the newest versions of Edge, Chrome, Firefox or Safari etc.

Microsatellite diversity predicts recruitment of sibling great reed warblers

På svenska

Author

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.

Publishing year

2001

Language

English

Pages

1287-1291

Publication/Series

Royal Society of London. Proceedings B. Biological Sciences

Volume

268

Issue

1473

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Royal Society Publishing

Topic

  • Biological Sciences

Status

Published

Project

  • Long-term study of great reed warblers

Research group

  • Molecular Ecology and Evolution Lab

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1471-2954