Inbreeding Linked to Amphibian Survival in the Wild but Not in the Laboratory

Abstract

We examined the effects of inbreeding on the performance of wood frog (Rana sylvatica) larvae in the field and in the laboratory. We used microsatellite analysis to establish the parentage and degree of inbreeding of the larvae. Two different estimators of inbreeding were used. The first was based on average multilocus heterozygosity, and the second was based on a molecular relatedness estimator. The estimators were highly correlated, and both showed a significant negative relationship between inbreeding and survival in the wild. However, there was no evidence that inbreeding influenced growth or development in the wild. Neither was there any evidence that inbreeding affected survival, growth, or development in the laboratory. These results suggest that, for wood frogs, inbreeding has a bigger effect on fitness in the wild than in captivity and that measurements of survival are more sensitive than measures of growth or development.