Antler size in red deer: heritability and selection but no evolution |
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Authors: | Kruuk E B Slate Jon Pemberton Josephine M Brotherstone Sue Guinness Fiona Clutton-Brock Tim |
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Institution: | Institute of Cell, Animal and Population Biology, King's Buildings, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3JT, United Kingdom;Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom |
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Abstract: | We present estimates of the selection on and the heritability of a male secondary sexual weapon in a wild population: antler size in red deer. Male red deer with large antlers had increased lifetime breeding success, both before and after correcting for body size, generating a standardized selection gradient of 0.44 (+/- 0.18 SE). Despite substantial age- and environment-related variation, antler size was also heritable (heritability of antler mass = 0.33 +/- 0.12). However the observed selection did not generate an evolutionary response in antler size over the study period of nearly 30 years, and there was no evidence of a positive genetic correlation between antler size and fitness nor of a positive association between breeding values for antler size and fitness. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that a heritable trait under directional selection will not evolve if associations between the measured trait and fitness are determined by environmental covariances: In red deer males, for example, both antler size and success in the fights for mates may be heavily dependent on an individual's nutritional state. |
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Keywords: | Additive genetic variance animal model breeding values Cervus elaphus population density sexual selection |
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