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Lifetime fitness of short- and long-distance dispersing great reed warblers

Hansson, Bengt LU orcid ; Bensch, Staffan LU and Hasselquist, Dennis LU (2004) In Evolution 58(11). p.2546-2557
Abstract
Dispersal is of prime importance for many evolutionary processes and has been studied for decades. The reproductive consequences of dispersal have proven difficult to study, simply because it is difficult to keep track of dispersing individuals. In most previous studies evaluating the fitness effects of dispersal, immigrants at a study locality have been lumped into one category and compared to philopatric individuals. This is unfortunate, because there are reasons to believe that immigrants with long and short dispersal distances may differ substantially in reproductive success. In the present study, we used a combination of capture-recapturing and multilocus microsatellite genotyping to categorize great reed warblers at our Swedish study... (More)
Dispersal is of prime importance for many evolutionary processes and has been studied for decades. The reproductive consequences of dispersal have proven difficult to study, simply because it is difficult to keep track of dispersing individuals. In most previous studies evaluating the fitness effects of dispersal, immigrants at a study locality have been lumped into one category and compared to philopatric individuals. This is unfortunate, because there are reasons to believe that immigrants with long and short dispersal distances may differ substantially in reproductive success. In the present study, we used a combination of capture-recapturing and multilocus microsatellite genotyping to categorize great reed warblers at our Swedish study site as philopatric individuals or short- or long-distance dispersing immigrants. We then performed novel comparisons of lifetime reproductive success (LRS) and survival rates of these three dispersal categories. The birds belonged to cohorts 1987-1996, and data for their LRS were gathered between 1988 and 2003. The analyses showed that philopatric males attracted more females, produced more fledglings and recruits throughout their lives, and survived better than immigrants. Among the immigrant males, those categorized as long-distance dispersers had lowest LRS and survival probability. Models that included covariates of potential importance showed that the difference in LRS between dispersal categories was partly caused by corresponding variation in number of breeding years at our study site. These results indicate that short- and, in particular, long-distance dispersers were of poor phenotypic quality, but it may also be proposed that immigrants attracted few females because they were poorly adapted to the local social environment. In females, the number of local recruits corrected for the number of breeding years (as well as for number of fledglings) differed between dispersal categories in a pattern that suggests an intermediate optimal dispersal distance. Short-distance dispersers recruited more offspring per year (and per fledgling) than both philopatric individuals and long-distance dispersers. Data suggest that the low LRS of philopatric females was related to costs of inbreeding. The low LRS of long-distance dispersing females may have resulted from their offspring being especially prone to disperse outside the study area, but also other potential explanations exist, such as local maladaptation. Our study highlights the importance of separating immigrant birds on the basis of their genetic similarity to the local study population when analyzing variation in LRS and inferring realized gene flow. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Evolution
volume
58
issue
11
pages
2546 - 2557
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • wos:000225357600015
  • pmid:15612297
  • scopus:9244238728
ISSN
1558-5646
project
Long-term study of great reed warblers
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
3a185e28-a2b6-4f35-bd1a-702e3d462131 (old id 136858)
alternative location
http://evol.allenpress.com/evolonline/?request=get-abstract&issn=0014-3820&volume=058&issue=11&page=2546
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 15:19:35
date last changed
2022-04-14 21:41:23
@article{3a185e28-a2b6-4f35-bd1a-702e3d462131,
  abstract     = {{Dispersal is of prime importance for many evolutionary processes and has been studied for decades. The reproductive consequences of dispersal have proven difficult to study, simply because it is difficult to keep track of dispersing individuals. In most previous studies evaluating the fitness effects of dispersal, immigrants at a study locality have been lumped into one category and compared to philopatric individuals. This is unfortunate, because there are reasons to believe that immigrants with long and short dispersal distances may differ substantially in reproductive success. In the present study, we used a combination of capture-recapturing and multilocus microsatellite genotyping to categorize great reed warblers at our Swedish study site as philopatric individuals or short- or long-distance dispersing immigrants. We then performed novel comparisons of lifetime reproductive success (LRS) and survival rates of these three dispersal categories. The birds belonged to cohorts 1987-1996, and data for their LRS were gathered between 1988 and 2003. The analyses showed that philopatric males attracted more females, produced more fledglings and recruits throughout their lives, and survived better than immigrants. Among the immigrant males, those categorized as long-distance dispersers had lowest LRS and survival probability. Models that included covariates of potential importance showed that the difference in LRS between dispersal categories was partly caused by corresponding variation in number of breeding years at our study site. These results indicate that short- and, in particular, long-distance dispersers were of poor phenotypic quality, but it may also be proposed that immigrants attracted few females because they were poorly adapted to the local social environment. In females, the number of local recruits corrected for the number of breeding years (as well as for number of fledglings) differed between dispersal categories in a pattern that suggests an intermediate optimal dispersal distance. Short-distance dispersers recruited more offspring per year (and per fledgling) than both philopatric individuals and long-distance dispersers. Data suggest that the low LRS of philopatric females was related to costs of inbreeding. The low LRS of long-distance dispersing females may have resulted from their offspring being especially prone to disperse outside the study area, but also other potential explanations exist, such as local maladaptation. Our study highlights the importance of separating immigrant birds on the basis of their genetic similarity to the local study population when analyzing variation in LRS and inferring realized gene flow.}},
  author       = {{Hansson, Bengt and Bensch, Staffan and Hasselquist, Dennis}},
  issn         = {{1558-5646}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{11}},
  pages        = {{2546--2557}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Evolution}},
  title        = {{Lifetime fitness of short- and long-distance dispersing great reed warblers}},
  url          = {{http://evol.allenpress.com/evolonline/?request=get-abstract&issn=0014-3820&volume=058&issue=11&page=2546}},
  volume       = {{58}},
  year         = {{2004}},
}