Quantitative genetics of basal metabolic rate and body mass in free‐living pied flycatchers

Abstract

Despite basal metabolic rate (BMR) being one of the most commonly measured physiological traits and an important indicator of competitive ability, very little is known about its genetic basis and relation to other physiological traits. Here, we present the first attempt to estimate the multivariate basis of BMR using a natural population of pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca breeding in the Tomsk Region, Western Siberia. We show relatively high and significant heritability of whole‐organism BMR, mass‐specific BMR and mass‐independent BMR (h 2 = 0.43, 0.55 and 0.52, respectively), which indicates the potential of these energetic traits to respond to direct selection. In contrast to some previous reports, we found that the genetic correlations between body mass and all three measures of BMR were not significantly different from zero. Independent evolution of body mass and BMR in this species should therefore be possible. Following a previous report, we also estimated the genetic correlations between the different BMR measures and show they are all close to unity, suggesting that they are, from a genetic point of view, a similar trait. Our results are in contrast with previous studies measuring the genetic basis of metabolic rates using aviary‐bred birds and highlight the importance of considering BMR in a natural setting.

Basal metabolic rate can evolve independently of morphological and behavioural traits

“…The heritability of BMR found in our study (h 2 ¼ 0.45) was higher than that reported in an earlier study in the same species (h 2 ¼ 0.25; Rønning et al, 2007) and closer to the heritabilities previously reported for free-living passerines (blue tits, Cyanistes caeruleus, h 2 ¼ 0.59 (Nilsson et al, 2009), and pied-flycatchers, Ficedula hypoleuca, h 2 ¼ 0.43, (Bushuev et al, 2012)). This suggests that between-study differences in the quantitative genetics of BMR are not merely the result of a dichotomy between lab versus field populations, as has previously been suggested (Bushuev et al, 2012).…”

“…Quantitative genetic analyses of BMR can inform us about the evolvability of the trait by providing estimates of both narrow-sense heritability (h 2 ) and of genetic correlations with other behavioural or morphological traits that may constrain the ability of BMR to respond to selection. Despite being one of the most widely measured physiological traits, there are relatively few studies to date that have explicitly investigated the heritability of BMR, and even fewer that have attempted to estimate genetic correlations between BMR and other traits (but see Nespolo et al, 2005;Rønning et al, 2007;Gebczynski and Konarzewski, 2009;Nilsson et al, 2009;Tieleman et al, 2009;Wone et al, 2009;Careau et al, 2011;Bushuev et al, 2012). Furthermore, these studies have produced conflicting results.…”

“…; Bushuev et al, 2012). This has raised questions regarding the conditions under which findings can be generalised across studies (Bushuev et al, 2012).…”

“…; Nilsson et al, 2009), while in piedflycatchers, Ficedula hypoleuca, the correlation did not differ from zero (0.087±0.297, mean±s.e. ; Bushuev et al, 2012). This has raised questions regarding the conditions under which findings can be generalised across studies (Bushuev et al, 2012).…”

Why does offspring size affect performance? Integrating metabolic scaling with life-history theory

“…[35][36][37]), mammals (e.g. [51,52]) and chickens [53], but the static scaling exponent of metabolic rate is almost isometric in adult pied flycatchers Ficedula hypoleuca [54], and metabolic rate and body mass are independent in some (e.g. [55]), but not all (e.g.…”