Inbreeding in the Seychelles Warbler: Environment-Dependent Maternal Effects

Richardson, David S.; Komdeur, Jan; Burke, Terry

doi:10.1554/03-597

Cited by 53 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Pairwise genetic relatedness ( R ) was estimated based on 30 microsatellite loci (Richardson et al., ; Spurgin et al., ) using the Queller and Goodnight () estimation implemented in the r ‐package “ related ” v0.8 (Pew, Muir, Wang, & Frasier, ). A previous study using these microsatellite loci in the Seychelles warbler has confirmed that relatedness for known parent–offspring pairs does not differ from R = 0.5 (Richardson, Komdeur, & Burke, ). To determine whether dispersers that joined another territory as non‐natal subordinates ( n = 3 males, n = 20 females) obtained parentage as subordinates, we assigned parentage for all offspring that were produced in that territory during a focal subordinate's tenure using masterbayes 2.52 (Hadfield et al., ; Dugdale et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 52%

Subordinate females in the cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler obtain direct benefits by joining unrelated groups

Groenewoud

Kingma

Hammers

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Abstract1. In many cooperatively breeding animals, a combination of ecological constraints and benefits of philopatry favours offspring taking a subordinate position on the natal territory instead of dispersing to breed independently. However, in many species individuals disperse to a subordinate position in a non-natal group ("subordinate between-group" dispersal), despite losing the kin-selected and nepotistic benefits of remaining in the natal group. It is unclear which social, genetic and ecological factors drive between-group dispersal.2. We aim to elucidate the adaptive significance of subordinate between-group dispersal by examining which factors promote such dispersal, whether subordinates gain improved ecological and social conditions by joining a non-natal group, and whether betweengroup dispersal results in increased lifetime reproductive success and survival.3. Using a long-term dataset on the cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler (Acrocephalus sechellensis), we investigated how a suite of proximate factors (food availability, group composition, age and sex of focal individuals, population density) promote subordinate between-group dispersal by comparing such dispersers with subordinates that dispersed to a dominant position or became floaters. We then analysed whether subordinates that moved to a dominant or non-natal subordinate position, or became floaters, gained improved conditions relative to the natal territory and compared fitness components between the three dispersal strategies.4. We show that individuals that joined another group as non-natal subordinates were mainly female and that, similar to floating, between-group dispersal was associated with social and demographic factors that constrained dispersal to an independent breeding position. Between-group dispersal was not driven by improved ecological or social conditions in the new territory and did not result in higher survival. Instead, between-group dispersing females often became cobreeders, obtaining maternity in the new territory, and were likely to inherit the territory in the future, leading to higher lifetime reproductive success compared to females that floated. Males never reproduced as subordinates, which may be one explanation why subordinate between-group dispersal by males is rare.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 52%

Subordinate females in the cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler obtain direct benefits by joining unrelated groups

Groenewoud

Kingma

Hammers

et al. 2018

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…, 2008). Furthermore, there is evidence that close inbreeding occurs in this population (Richardson et al. , 2004; Brouwer et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…Second, we assess if individuals that do disperse from their natal territory avoid related individuals as mates. A previous study on the Seychelles warblers that compared the relatedness of existing pairs with all potential random pairs across the entire population found no evidence for inbreeding avoidance through social or extra‐pair mate choice (Richardson et al. , 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natal dispersal patterns are not associated with inbreeding avoidance in the Seychelles warbler

Eikenaar

Komdeur

Richardson

2008

J of Evolutionary Biology

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In this study, we test whether patterns of territory inheritance, social mate choice and female‐biased natal dispersal act as inbreeding avoidance mechanisms in the cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler. Our results show that Seychelles warblers do not reduce the likelihood of inbreeding by avoiding related individuals as mates. The occurrence of natural and experimentally induced territory inheritance did not depend on whether the remaining breeder was a parent of the potential inheritor or an unrelated breeder. Furthermore, dispersing individuals were no less related to their eventual mates than expected given the pool of candidates they could mate with. The female bias in natal dispersal distance observed in the Seychelles warbler does not facilitate inbreeding avoidance because, contrary to our prediction, there was no sex difference in the clustering of related opposite sex breeders around the natal territories of dispersers. As a result, the chance of females mating with relatives was not reduced by their greater dispersal distance compared with that of males.

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“…Unlike the results reported here, most studies have found strong effects of inbreeding as well as interactions with environment at most life history stages (Keller et al 1994, Marr et al 2006, Szulkin and Sheldon 2007). Other studies have shown that inbreeding depression may only be expressed, and therefore interactions observable, when environmental conditions are very adverse (Keller et al 2002, Richardson et al 2004). Weather variables in our study had high relative importance at several stages, but these effects were variable and imprecise.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In song sparrows Melospiza melodia , prolonged periods of rain increased the severity of inbreeding depression for female hatching success (Marr et al 2006), and severe winters decreased overall survival (Keller et al 1994). Similarly, stressful environmental conditions reduced reproductive success of inbred females in the Seychelles warbler Acrocephalus sechellensis (Richardson et al 2004). Environmental influence on inbreeding depression has also been observed in Darwin's finches Geospiza scadens and G. fortis (Keller et al 2002) and great tits Parus major (Szulkin and Sheldon 2007).…”

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confidence: 99%

Limited inbreeding depression in a bottlenecked population is age but not environment dependent

Laws¹,

Townsend²,

Nakagawa³

et al. 2010

Journal of Avian Biology

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Inbreeding depression is known to vary greatly between populations and among species. Some of this variation is due to differences in genetic load between populations, while some is due to differences in the environment (e.g. local weather conditions) or demography of the population (e.g. age structure and breeding experience) in which inbreeding is expressed. Although the effects of these factors in isolation are well understood, there is still relatively little known about the interface between inbreeding on one hand, and environment and demography on the other in wild populations. We examined how environmental and demographic factors mediated the effects of inbreeding in a threatened species of bird. The Stewart Island robin, Petroica australis rakiura, has been subjected to a prolonged bottleneck for over 150 years. A complete pedigree of a reintroduced island population, extending back seven seasons to its founding, was available for analysis along with survival data (at the level of the brood) obtained from intensive monitoring over two breeding seasons. We found no strong support that the degree to which a brood was inbred affected its survival at either the hatching, fledging or recruitment stages. The inbreeding coefficient of the mother did have an effect on brood survival when analysed over all three life history stages, but only as a result of an interaction with female age, with broods of one‐year‐old inbred females suffering greater mortality than those of older inbred females. Although habitat type, temperature, rainfall and year were the best predictors of brood survival for most life history stages, their effects were weak and there were no interactions with inbreeding. Furthermore, there was no strong evidence of inbreeding depression associated with two periods of severe weather. This population is atypical in that inbreeding depression appears to be weak even under severe environmental conditions, and may be indicative that this bottlenecked population has either reduced genetic load or has fixed deleterious alleles.

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Inbreeding in the Seychelles Warbler: Environment-Dependent Maternal Effects

Cited by 53 publications

References 85 publications

Subordinate females in the cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler obtain direct benefits by joining unrelated groups

Subordinate females in the cooperatively breeding Seychelles warbler obtain direct benefits by joining unrelated groups

Natal dispersal patterns are not associated with inbreeding avoidance in the Seychelles warbler

Limited inbreeding depression in a bottlenecked population is age but not environment dependent

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