Abstract
Relatedness strongly influences social behaviors in a wide variety of species. For most species, the highest typical degree of relatedness is between full siblings with 50% shared genes. However, this is poorly understood in species with unusually high relatedness between individuals: clonal organisms. Although there has been some investigation into clonal invertebrates and yeast, nothing is known about kin selection in clonal vertebrates. We show that a clonal fish, the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), can distinguish between different clonal lineages, associating with genetically identical, sister clones, and use multiple sensory modalities. Also, they scale their aggressive behaviors according to the relatedness to other females: they are more aggressive to non-related clones. Our results demonstrate that even in species with very small genetic differences between individuals, kin recognition can be adaptive. Their discriminatory abilities and regulation of costly behaviors provides a powerful example of natural selection in species with limited genetic diversity.
Highlights
Kin selection theory predicts that cooperative and altruistic behaviors scale with relatedness [1,2,3,4,5], strongly favoring close relatives
We show that a clonal fish, the Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), can distinguish between different clonal lineages, associating with genetically identical, sister clones, and use multiple sensory modalities
How large must the difference in relatedness be for kin recognition to occur [3]? To address this, we need to understand just how relatedness shapes social behavior in species with the highest possible relatedness between individuals: clonal organisms
Summary
Kin selection theory predicts that cooperative and altruistic behaviors scale with relatedness [1,2,3,4,5], strongly favoring close relatives. Given the high genetic similarity with other clonal lineages, competition for resources, low dispersal rates of the clones, the high diversity of clonal lineages with in a population, and the social environment in which they occur, we hypothesize that Amazon mollies show the ability to detect different clonal lineages and adjust their aggressive behaviors . To test this hypothesis, we created six clonal lineages by mating virgin Amazon mollies from populations collected from the entire geographical range of the species to sailfin molly males (S1 Fig, S1 Table). Amazon mollies show considerable individual variation in behaviors (i.e., preferences, aggression, etc.) [24,30,31] within and among clonal lineages, suggesting that after establishing kin recognition in multiple lineages, the use of a single lineage to further explore kin recognition within this species is sufficient
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
