Cost, risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird
Inbreeding is often avoided in natural populations by passive processes such as sex-biased dispersal. But, in many social animals, opposite-sexed adult relatives are spatially clustered, generating a risk of incest and hence selection for active inbreeding avoidance. Here we show that, in long-taile...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
National Academy of Sciences
2020
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| _version_ | 1797092183193419776 |
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| author | Leedale, AE Simeoni, M Sharp, SP Green, JP Slate, J Lachlan, RF Robinson, EJH Hatchwell, BJ |
| author_facet | Leedale, AE Simeoni, M Sharp, SP Green, JP Slate, J Lachlan, RF Robinson, EJH Hatchwell, BJ |
| author_sort | Leedale, AE |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Inbreeding is often avoided in natural populations by passive processes such as sex-biased dispersal. But, in many social animals, opposite-sexed adult relatives are spatially clustered, generating a risk of incest and hence selection for active inbreeding avoidance. Here we show that, in long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus), a cooperative breeder that risks inbreeding by living alongside opposite-sex relatives, inbreeding carries fitness costs and is avoided by active kin discrimination during mate choice. First, we identified a positive association between heterozygosity and fitness, indicating that inbreeding is costly. We then compared relatedness within breeding pairs to that expected under multiple mate-choice models, finding that pair relatedness is consistent with avoidance of first-order kin as partners. Finally, we show that the similarity of vocal cues offers a plausible mechanism for discrimination against first-order kin during mate choice. Long-tailed tits are known to discriminate between the calls of close kin and nonkin, and they favor first-order kin in cooperative contexts, so we conclude that long-tailed tits use the same kin discrimination rule to avoid inbreeding as they do to direct help toward kin. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:42:31Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:be6205b3-63f4-4a16-92d5-d0821bedc29b |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T03:42:31Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | National Academy of Sciences |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:be6205b3-63f4-4a16-92d5-d0821bedc29b2022-03-27T05:39:00ZCost, risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding birdJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:be6205b3-63f4-4a16-92d5-d0821bedc29bEnglishSymplectic ElementsNational Academy of Sciences2020Leedale, AESimeoni, MSharp, SPGreen, JPSlate, JLachlan, RFRobinson, EJHHatchwell, BJInbreeding is often avoided in natural populations by passive processes such as sex-biased dispersal. But, in many social animals, opposite-sexed adult relatives are spatially clustered, generating a risk of incest and hence selection for active inbreeding avoidance. Here we show that, in long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus), a cooperative breeder that risks inbreeding by living alongside opposite-sex relatives, inbreeding carries fitness costs and is avoided by active kin discrimination during mate choice. First, we identified a positive association between heterozygosity and fitness, indicating that inbreeding is costly. We then compared relatedness within breeding pairs to that expected under multiple mate-choice models, finding that pair relatedness is consistent with avoidance of first-order kin as partners. Finally, we show that the similarity of vocal cues offers a plausible mechanism for discrimination against first-order kin during mate choice. Long-tailed tits are known to discriminate between the calls of close kin and nonkin, and they favor first-order kin in cooperative contexts, so we conclude that long-tailed tits use the same kin discrimination rule to avoid inbreeding as they do to direct help toward kin. |
| spellingShingle | Leedale, AE Simeoni, M Sharp, SP Green, JP Slate, J Lachlan, RF Robinson, EJH Hatchwell, BJ Cost, risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird |
| title | Cost, risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird |
| title_full | Cost, risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird |
| title_fullStr | Cost, risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cost, risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird |
| title_short | Cost, risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird |
| title_sort | cost risk and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird |
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