A loss of heterozygosity, a loss in competition? The effects of inbreeding, pre- and postnatal conditions on nestling development

摘要

Abstract The early developmental trajectory is affected by genetic and environmental factors that co-depend and interact often in a complex way. In order to distinguish their respective roles, we used canaries ( Serinus canaria ) of different genetic backgrounds (inbred and outbred birds). An artificial size hierarchy was created to provoke within-nest competition, manipulating postnatal conditions. To this end, inbred birds were weight-matched with outbred birds into duos, and each nest contained one duo of size-advantaged, and one duo of size-disadvantaged inbred and outbred nestlings. Prenatal (maternal) effects were taken into account also, enabling us to study the separate as well as the interactive effects of inbreeding, pre- and postnatal conditions on nestling development. We find that postnatal conditions were the most important determinant of early growth, with size-advantaged nestlings growing faster and obtaining larger size/body mass at fledging in comparison with size-disadvantaged nestlings. Prenatal conditions were important too, with birds that hatched from eggs that were laid late in the laying order obtaining a larger size at fledging than those hatched from early laid eggs. Inbreeding inhibited growth, but surprisingly this did not depend on (dis)advantageous pre- or postnatal conditions. Our findings imply that inbred individuals lose when they are in direct competition with same-sized outbred individuals regardless of the rearing conditions, and we thus propose that reduced competitiveness is one of the driving forces of inbreeding depression.