Abstract

Parent and offspring behaviors are expected to act as both the agents and targets of selection. This may generate parent–offspring coadaptation in which parent and offspring behaviors become genetically correlated in a way that increases inclusive fitness. Cross‐fostering has been used to study parent–offspring coadaptation, with the prediction that offspring raised by non‐relatives, or parents raising non‐relatives, should suffer fitness costs. Using long‐term data from more than 400 partially crossed broods of blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus), we show that there is no difference in mass or survival between crossed and non‐crossed chicks. However, previous studies for which the evidence for parent–offspring coadaptation is strongest compare chicks from fully crossed broods with those from non‐crossed broods. When parent–offspring coadaptation acts at the level of the brood then partial cross‐fostering experiments are not expected to show evidence of coadaptation. To test this, we performed an additional experiment (163 broods) in which clutches were either fully crossed, non‐crossed, or partially crossed. In agreement with the long‐term data, there was no evidence for parent–offspring coadaptation on offspring fitness despite high power. In addition there was no evidence of effects on parental fitness, nor evidence of sibling coadaptation, although the power of these tests was more modest.

Highlights

  • Publisher Rights Statement: C 2018 The Authors Evolution published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution

  • There was an overall nonsignificant effect of parent– offspring (PO) coadaptation (Wald test P = 0.065) in the opposite direction to what might be expected—there was a nonsignificant reduction in mass at day 0 when with biological parents rather than foster parents (–0.005 ± 0.004 g, P = 0.158), equivalent to a 0.53% loss of mass; this difference was suggestive at day 15 (–0.058 ± 0.026 g, P = 0.027), but again this is only equivalent to a 0.54% reduction in mean mass at this age

  • By carrying out a randomized cross-fostering experiment, this study aimed first to test for evidence of PO coadaptation in blue tits, and secondly whether sibling coadaptation and/or sibling-mediated parent–offspring coadaptation (SPO) coadaptation exist

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Publisher Rights Statement: C 2018 The Authors Evolution published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Society for the Study of Evolution. Parent and offspring behaviors are expected to act as both the agents and targets of selection This may generate parent–offspring coadaptation in which parent and offspring behaviors become genetically correlated in a way that increases inclusive fitness. Correlational selection occurs when the fitness function of a trait depends on the value of another trait an individual expresses This can result in favorable genetic correlations, either through the build up of linkage disequilibria between alleles affecting the two traits (Fisher 1930; Lewontin and Kojima 1960; Lewontin 1964), or the segregation of alleles that have pleiotropic effects (Lande 1980; Cheverud 1984). In the context of parents and their offspring, these genetic correlations generate parent–offspring coadaptation, in which the combination of trait values within a family result in the highest fitness (Wolf and Brodie 1998; Kolliker et al 2005)

Objectives
Methods
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

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 call