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Data from: Negative effects of individual heterozygosity on reproductive success in a wild bird population

Cite this dataset

Botero-Delgadillo, Esteban; Gilsenan, Carol; Mueller, Jakob C.; Kempenaers, Bart (2021). Data from: Negative effects of individual heterozygosity on reproductive success in a wild bird population [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4f4qrfj8t

Abstract

The evolutionary consequences of individual genetic diversity are frequently studied by assessing heterozygosity-fitness correlations (HFCs). The prevalence of positive and negative HFCs and the predominance of general versus local effects in wild populations are far from understood, partly because comprehensive studies testing for both inbreeding and outbreeding depression are lacking. We studied a genetically diverse population of blue tits in southern Germany using a genome-wide set of 87 microsatellites to investigate the relationship between proxies of reproductive success and measures of multi-locus and single-locus individual heterozygosity (MLH and SLH). We used complimentary measures of MLH and partitioned markers into functional categories according to their position in the blue tit genome. HFCs based on MLH were consistently negative for functional loci, whereas correlations were rather inconsistent for loci found in non-functional areas of the genome. Clutch size was the only reproductive variable showing a general effect. We found evidence for local effects for three measures of reproductive success: arrival date at the breeding site, the probability of breeding at the study site, and male reproductive success. For these, we observed consistent, and relatively strong, negative effects at one functional locus. Remarkably, this marker had a similar effect in another blue tit population from Austria (~400 km to the east). We suggest that a genetic local effect on timing of arrival might be responsible for most negative HFCs detected, with carry-over effects on other reproductive traits. This effect could reflect individual differences in the distance between overwintering areas and breeding sites.

Methods

Details will be provided in the published paper.

Usage notes

Dataset: HFCs_Ccaeruleus

Negative effects of individual heterozygosity on reproductive success in a wild bird population
Authors: Botero-Delgadillo, Esteban; Gilsenan, Carol; Mueller, Jakob C.; Kempenaers, Bart
MS Reference Number: MEC-20-0603

The whole dataset contains data for evaluating the relationship between individual heterozygosity and reproductive success in a population of Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) in southern Germany. 

The data set is divided into three spreadsheets: Breeding-Nonbreeding data; Breeding success data; Complete genotypes. These datasets are described in detail in the ReadMe file.