Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Multilevel and sex-specific selection on competitive traits in North American red squirrels

View ORCID ProfileDavid N. Fisher, Stan Boutin, Ben Dantzer, Murray M. Humphries, Jeffrey E. Lane, Andrew G. McAdam
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/104240
David N. Fisher
1Department for Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for David N. Fisher
  • For correspondence: davidnfisher@hotmail.com
Stan Boutin
2Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ben Dantzer
3Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbour, Michigan 48109-1043, USA
4Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbour, Michigan 48109-1043, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Murray M. Humphries
5Natural Resource Sciences, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec H9X 3V9, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jeffrey E. Lane
6Department of Biology, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan S7N 5E2, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Andrew G. McAdam
1Department for Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Individuals often interact more closely with some members of the population (e.g. offspring, siblings or group members) than they do with other individuals. This structuring of interactions can lead to multilevel natural selection, where traits expressed at the group-level influence fitness alongside individual-level traits. Such multilevel selection can alter evolutionary trajectories, yet is rarely quantified in the wild, especially for species that do not interact in clearly demarcated groups. We quantified multilevel natural selection on two traits, postnatal growth rate and birth date, in a population of North American red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus). The strongest level of selection was typically within-acoustic social neighbourhoods (within 130m of the nest), where growing faster and being born earlier than nearby litters was key, while selection on growth rate was also apparent both within-litters and within-study areas. Higher population densities increased the strength of selection for earlier breeding, but did not influence selection on growth rates. Females experienced especially strong selection on growth rate at the within-litter level, possibly linked to the biased bequeathal of the maternal territory to daughters. Our results demonstrate the importance of considering multilevel and sex-specific selection in wild species, including those that are territorial and sexually monomorphic.

Data archival: the data set is archived on Dryad (info XXX), with a five-year embargo from the date of publication.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted May 04, 2017.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Multilevel and sex-specific selection on competitive traits in North American red squirrels
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Multilevel and sex-specific selection on competitive traits in North American red squirrels
David N. Fisher, Stan Boutin, Ben Dantzer, Murray M. Humphries, Jeffrey E. Lane, Andrew G. McAdam
bioRxiv 104240; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/104240
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Multilevel and sex-specific selection on competitive traits in North American red squirrels
David N. Fisher, Stan Boutin, Ben Dantzer, Murray M. Humphries, Jeffrey E. Lane, Andrew G. McAdam
bioRxiv 104240; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/104240

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Evolutionary Biology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (3479)
  • Biochemistry (7318)
  • Bioengineering (5296)
  • Bioinformatics (20197)
  • Biophysics (9976)
  • Cancer Biology (7703)
  • Cell Biology (11250)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (6418)
  • Ecology (9916)
  • Epidemiology (2065)
  • Evolutionary Biology (13280)
  • Genetics (9352)
  • Genomics (12554)
  • Immunology (7674)
  • Microbiology (18939)
  • Molecular Biology (7417)
  • Neuroscience (40893)
  • Paleontology (298)
  • Pathology (1226)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2126)
  • Physiology (3140)
  • Plant Biology (6838)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1270)
  • Synthetic Biology (1891)
  • Systems Biology (5296)
  • Zoology (1085)