Genetic sources of individual variation in parental care behavior

Daniel P. Wetzel; Margret I. Hatch; David F. Westneat

doi:10.1007/s00265-015-2006-x

Genetic sources of individual variation in parental care behavior

Daniel P. Wetzel, Margret I. Hatch, David F. Westneat

Biology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Consistent individual differences in behavior exist for many behavioral traits. Several evolutionary hypotheses regarding the maintenance of this variation have been proposed, but they all rest on the relatively untested question of whether this variation has a genetic basis and if so, exactly what genetic mechanisms may be involved. We tested for heritability and the effects of heterozygosity on two measures of parental care behavior (nestling provisioning rate and the likelihood of provisioning with large food items) in a population of wild house sparrows (Passer domesticus), where both behaviors display consistent individual differences across a wide range of contexts. We found no evidence of significant heritability in either measure of parental care behavior. However, in a subset of 46 female sparrows, the likelihood of bringing large food items to the nest, but not provisioning rate, was positively correlated with genetic heterozygosity estimated from 18 polymorphic microsatellite markers. Despite these findings, individual identity continued to explain a significant proportion of the variation in parental care behavior. Our results imply that while the effects of directional selection on traits associated with parental care may be limited in this population, genetic heterozygosity appears to play a role in the maintenance of phenotypic diversity in at least one aspect of parental care behavior.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1933-1943
Number of pages	11
Journal	Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
Volume	69
Issue number	12
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-015-2006-x
State	Published - Dec 1 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Funding

Funding for this study was provided by the National Science Foundation (IOS #1110440), American Ornithologists’ Union, Animal Behavior Society, Kentucky Ornithological Society, Sigma Xi, UK Dept. of Biology Ribble Research Fund and Kuehne Scholarship Fund, and the UK Graduate School. We thank the managers and staff at UK’s Maine Chance and Spindletop Farms for access to the sparrows. The UK AGTC (especially Abbe Kesterson) provided invaluable assistance running the fragment analysis.We thank Ian Stewart, Sarah Barney, Lizzy Burnett, and Ashely Ginn-Dillon for their help collecting field data, and Patricia Hartman and Melissa Keinath for their help in the lab. We appreciate comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript provided by P. Crowley, C. Fox, A. Pilastro, C. Sargent, T. Zentall, and two anonymous reviewers.

Funders	Funder number
Kentucky Ornithological Society
Kuehne Scholarship Fund
Sigma Xi, UK Dept. of Biology Ribble Research Fund
National Science Foundation (NSF)	IOS #1110440
American Ornithologists Union
Animal Behavior Society
Graduate School, Southern Illinois University
Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation

Keywords

Heritability
Heterozygosity
Passer domesticus
Personality
Plasticity
Reaction norm

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Animal Science and Zoology

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10.1007/s00265-015-2006-x

Cite this

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title = "Genetic sources of individual variation in parental care behavior",

abstract = "Consistent individual differences in behavior exist for many behavioral traits. Several evolutionary hypotheses regarding the maintenance of this variation have been proposed, but they all rest on the relatively untested question of whether this variation has a genetic basis and if so, exactly what genetic mechanisms may be involved. We tested for heritability and the effects of heterozygosity on two measures of parental care behavior (nestling provisioning rate and the likelihood of provisioning with large food items) in a population of wild house sparrows (Passer domesticus), where both behaviors display consistent individual differences across a wide range of contexts. We found no evidence of significant heritability in either measure of parental care behavior. However, in a subset of 46 female sparrows, the likelihood of bringing large food items to the nest, but not provisioning rate, was positively correlated with genetic heterozygosity estimated from 18 polymorphic microsatellite markers. Despite these findings, individual identity continued to explain a significant proportion of the variation in parental care behavior. Our results imply that while the effects of directional selection on traits associated with parental care may be limited in this population, genetic heterozygosity appears to play a role in the maintenance of phenotypic diversity in at least one aspect of parental care behavior.",

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author = "Wetzel, {Daniel P.} and Hatch, {Margret I.} and Westneat, {David F.}",

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AB - Consistent individual differences in behavior exist for many behavioral traits. Several evolutionary hypotheses regarding the maintenance of this variation have been proposed, but they all rest on the relatively untested question of whether this variation has a genetic basis and if so, exactly what genetic mechanisms may be involved. We tested for heritability and the effects of heterozygosity on two measures of parental care behavior (nestling provisioning rate and the likelihood of provisioning with large food items) in a population of wild house sparrows (Passer domesticus), where both behaviors display consistent individual differences across a wide range of contexts. We found no evidence of significant heritability in either measure of parental care behavior. However, in a subset of 46 female sparrows, the likelihood of bringing large food items to the nest, but not provisioning rate, was positively correlated with genetic heterozygosity estimated from 18 polymorphic microsatellite markers. Despite these findings, individual identity continued to explain a significant proportion of the variation in parental care behavior. Our results imply that while the effects of directional selection on traits associated with parental care may be limited in this population, genetic heterozygosity appears to play a role in the maintenance of phenotypic diversity in at least one aspect of parental care behavior.

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Genetic sources of individual variation in parental care behavior

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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