Hastings Natural History Reservation

28 Jun, 06 AM - 06 Jul, 02 AM

The ability to respond to environmental heterogeneity is of fundamental evolutionary importance, as environments vary over evolutionary time. Behavior enables individuals to react to the environment; if behavioural variation is heritable this enables swift adaptation to environmental variation. Surprisingly, we know little about the heritability of behavioural flexibility, how natural environmental variation and social interactions influence heritability, and what the lifetime-fitness consequences of behaviours are in wild systems. This is vital in order to understand how behaviours evolve and adapt to variable environments. Pioneering studies have investigated the heritability of behaviours in natural systems; however, they were unable to utilise recently developed random-slope models that facilitate accurate estimates over variable environments and did not include potentially confounding, biologically important factors. In particular, although interactions between social individuals are common none of these studies incorporated the effects of behaviours of surrounding individuals (Indirect Genetic Effects or IGEs). This is important as IGEs can substantially influence the direction and strength of selection. I will use state-of-the-art advances to study two wild-living cooperative breeders: a contained island-population of Seychelles warblers and an open acorn woodpecker population. I have built a genetic pedigree, using Bayesian methods, of 1,700 Seychelles warblers (1994?2010, 30 microsatellites) and I will build a similar genetic pedigree of ca 4,000 acorn woodpeckers (1980?2016, 16 microsatellites). As well as genetic data, these systems benefit from knowledge of precise lifetime behaviours. Furthermore, as the closed Seychelles warbler population has been constantly monitored, accurate fitness measures are available, which is rare in wild systems. Within both systems certain behaviours, such as natal dispersal and helping, vary with the environment. I will develop novel ?animal? models to determine the heritability of these behaviours, and how environmental variation influences heritability. I will ask whether behaviours vary across environments at the population level, whether there is an interaction between individuals and the environment (I x E) and whether genotypic differences underlie this (G x E). I will test these models? predictions experimentally, using four translocation events. I will then develop multivariate ?animal? models to determine how environmental variation influences the genetic covariance between cooperative-breeding traits, and between these traits and fitness. Furthermore, I will conduct cross-fostering of acorn woodpeckers to improve understanding of IGEs on the strength and direction of selection on helping. I will also develop individual-based simulation models to ask whether lifetime fitness measures in natural systems reflect long-term fitness, and the strength and direction of selection accurately. This will be achieved using accurate fitness estimates from the closed Seychelles warbler population. My research will provide insights into how heritable behaviours are and whether individuals can adapt to variable environments. This is vital to species of conservation concern, such as Seychelles warblers that have nowhere to go in the event of change. It will also have wide-reaching application as the genetic bases of behaviours are likely to be similar in other cooperative breeders, such as humans.

Visit #28766 @Hastings Natural History Reservation

Approved

Under Project # 25414 | Research

Quantitative genetics of behaviour in Acorn woodpeckers

faculty - University of Leeds

Reservation Members(s)

Hannah Dugdale Jun 28 - Jul 6, 2012 (9 days)

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