Parasites as mediators of heterozygosity-fitness correlations in the Great Tit (Parus major)
| Autor: | Beatrice Voegeli, Verena Saladin, Heinz Richner, Michèle Wegmann |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Genetics Parus 0303 health sciences education.field_of_study Offspring Population Genetic Fitness Zoology Biology biology.organism_classification 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Parasite load Loss of heterozygosity 03 medical and health sciences Genetic variation Genotype education Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 030304 developmental biology |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Evolutionary Biology. 25:584-590 |
| ISSN: | 1010-061X |
| Popis: | Positive correlations between heterozygosity and fitness traits are frequently observed, and it has been hypothesized, but rarely tested experimentally, that parasites play a key role in mediating the heterozygosity-fitness association. We evaluated this hypothesis in a wild great tit (Parus major) population by testing the prediction that the heterozygosity-fitness association would appear in broods experimentally infested with a common ectoparasite, but not in parasite-free broods. We simultaneously assessed the effects of parental and offspring heterozygosity on nestling growth and found that body mass of nestlings close to independence, which is a strong predictor of post-fledging survival, increased significantly with nestling levels of heterozygosity in experimentally infested nests, but not in parasite-free nests. Heterozygosity level of the fathers also showed a significant positive correlation with offspring body mass under an experimental parasite load, whereas there was no correlation with the mothers' level of heterozygosity. Thus, our results indicate a key role for parasites as mediators of the heterozygosity-fitness correlations. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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