Heritable variation underlies behavioural types in the mating context in male bluefin killifish.

ABSTRACT: In many species, consistent behavioural differences among individuals are linked to fitness variation. Determining the environmental and genetic factors that mould these behavioural types is crucial to understanding how behaviours might respond to selection. Male bluefin killifish, Lucania goodei, show extensive consistent behavioural variation in their levels of courtship, male-directed aggression and female-directed aggression, resulting in a range of fitness-related behavioural types coexisting within a population. To determine whether the behavioural components underlying a male's stable behavioural type in the mating context are heritable and genetically correlated, we performed paternal half-sib crosses. Using animal models, we found that all three of these mating behaviours w

SUBMITTER: McGhee KE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3811945 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature