Under the ‘good genes’ mechanism of sexual selection (SS), females benefit from mate choice indirectly: their offspring inherit genes of the preferred, high quality fathers. Recent models assume that the genetic variance for male quality is maintained by deleterious mutations. Consequently, SS can be predicted to remove deleterious mutations from populations. We tested this prediction by relaxing selection in populations of the bulb mite, thus increasing their rate of accumulation of deleterious mutation. SS, allowed to operate in half of these populations, did not prevent the fitness decline observed in the other half of the relaxed selection lines. After 11 generations of relaxed selection, female fecundity in lines in which males were allowed to compete for females declined compared with control populations by similar amount as in monogamous lines (17.5 and 14.5%, respectively), whereas other fitness components (viability, longevity, male reproductive success) did not differ significantly between both types of lines and control populations.
Nest boxes for dormice (Gliridae) can significantly increase the habitat’s carrying capacity for these species in areas under high anthropopressure and facilitate the long-term monitoring of populations. As part of the active protection of dormice in the Carpathian Landscape Parks in Małopolska, in August and September 2019, 575 boxes of two different sizes were checked for the presence of adults, young or nests. Additionally, habitat conditions within a 25 m radius were recorded (e.g. forest stand, estimated understory cover, the approximate number of natural shelters, fruiting plant species). The vast majority of all nest boxes – 79% – were used by dormice, but also birds and insects frequently occupied these shelters. Out of four species of dormice that occur in Poland, two were recorded in the study area: hazel dormice Muscardinus avellanarius and fat dormice Gli sglis. They were found in all surveyed landscape parks and inhabited mainly fir stands. Hazel dormice preferred smaller nest boxes and were generally more common than fat dormice, which preferred large boxes. On the other hand, fat dormice were more common in areas rich in fruiting plant species. Our research thus confirmed the usefulness of artificial shelters for dormouse in active protection.
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