Male-Male Competition Magnifies Inbreeding Depression in Wild House Mice

The detrimental effects of inbreeding on vertebrates are well documented for early stages of the life cycle in the laboratory. However, the consequences of inbreeding on long-term survival and reproductive success (Darwinian fitness) are uncertain for vertebrates in the wild. Here, we report direct...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2000-03, Vol.97 (7), p.3324-3329
Main Authors: Meagher, Shawn, Penn, Dustin J., Potts, Wayne K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal reproduction
Animals
Base Sequence
Biological Sciences
DNA Primers
Ecological competition
Evolution
Female
Female animals
Genetics
Inbreeding
Inbreeding coefficient
Inbreeding depression
Male
Male animals
Mating behavior
Mice
Mice - physiology
Mus domesticus
Mutation
Pups
Reproductive success
Rodents
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The detrimental effects of inbreeding on vertebrates are well documented for early stages of the life cycle in the laboratory. However, the consequences of inbreeding on long-term survival and reproductive success (Darwinian fitness) are uncertain for vertebrates in the wild. Here, we report direct experimental evidence for vertebrates that competition increases the harmful effects of inbreeding on offspring survival and reproduction. We compared the fitness of inbred (from full-sib matings) and outbred wild house mice (Mus domesticus) in large, seminatural enclosures. Inbred males sired only one-fifth as many surviving offspring as outbred males because of their poor competitive ability and survivorship. In laboratory conditions, inbreeding had relatively minor effects on male reproductive success and no effect on survivorship. Seminatural conditions did not increase inbreeding depression for females, probably because females were not competing for any critical resources. The overall reduction in fitness from inbreeding was 57%, which is 4.5 times as great as previous estimates from the laboratory. These results have important implications for medicine, conservation, evolutionary biology, and functional genomics.
ISSN:0027-8424
1091-6490
DOI:10.1073/pnas.060284797