A field test of the effects of familiarity and relatedness on social associations and reproduction in prairie voles |
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Authors: | Kristen E Lucia Brian Keane |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Zoology, Center for Animal Behavior, Miami University, Oxford, OH 45056, USA;(2) Department of Zoology, Center for Animal Behavior, Miami University Hamilton, Hamilton, OH 45011, USA |
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Abstract: | Inbreeding depression is a well-documented phenomenon. In animals, one means of avoiding the costs of inbreeding is through
the recognition and avoidance of kin as mates. Prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) are short-lived, socially monogamous rodents that demonstrate inbreeding depression in the laboratory. Field data indicate
that pair formation in nature is opportunistic but pairing among close relatives seems uncommon. We examined the role of relatedness
and familiarity on prairie vole social associations and reproduction by placing adult voles into 0.1-ha enclosures with familiar
siblings, unfamiliar siblings, and unrelated, unfamiliar conspecifics. Live-trapping data indicated that indices of social
pair bonding were random with respect to relatedness and familiarity. Among females whose litters were sired by a single male,
litters were significantly more likely to be sired by unfamiliar than familiar males, but the number of litters sired by males
that were unrelated to their partner was not different from the number of litters sired by males that were related to their
partner. Additionally, females that produced offspring with familiar siblings were significantly more likely to have litters
with multiple paternity than females not producing offspring with familiar siblings. However, multiple paternity was not influenced
by relatedness of sires. Finally, older individuals were more likely to produce offspring with each other than with younger
individuals. Our findings suggest that prior association is a more important mechanism of inbreeding avoidance than phenotype
matching for prairie voles mating under ecologically relevant conditions. |
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