Viability of brown trout embryos positively linked to melanin-based but negatively to carotenoid-based colours of their fathers |
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Authors: | Wedekind Claus Jacob Alain Evanno Guillaume Nusslé Sébastien Müller Rudolf |
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Institution: | Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. claus.wedekind@unil.ch |
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Abstract: | 'Good-genes' models of sexual selection predict significant additive genetic variation for fitness-correlated traits within populations to be revealed by phenotypic traits. To test this prediction, we sampled brown trout (Salmo trutta) from their natural spawning place, analysed their carotenoid-based red and melanin-based dark skin colours and tested whether these colours can be used to predict offspring viability. We produced half-sib families by in vitro fertilization, reared the resulting embryos under standardized conditions, released the hatchlings into a streamlet and identified the surviving juveniles 20 months later with microsatellite markers. Embryo viability was revealed by the sires' dark pigmentation: darker males sired more viable offspring. However, the sires' red coloration correlated negatively with embryo survival. Our study demonstrates that genetic variation for fitness-correlated traits is revealed by male colour traits in our study population, but contrary to predictions from other studies, intense red colours do not signal good genes. |
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Keywords: | salmonid genetic load good-genes sexual selection offspring survival heritability of colour traits |
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