Using heterozygosity-fitness correlations to study inbreeding depression in an isolated population of white-tailed deer founded by few individuals.

ABSTRACT: A heterozygosity-fitness correlations (HFCs) may reflect inbreeding depression, but the extent to which they do so is debated. HFCs are particularly likely to occur after demographic disturbances such as population bottleneck or admixture. We here study HFC in an introduced and isolated ungulate population of white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus in Finland founded in 1934 by four individuals. A total of 422 ≥ 1-year-old white-tailed deer were collected in the 2012 hunting season in southern Finland and genotyped for 14 microsatellite loci. We find significant identity disequilibrium as estimated by g 2. Heterozygosity was positively associated with size- and age-corrected body mass, but not with jaw size or (in males) antler score. Because of the relatively high identity disequilibrium

SUBMITTER: Brommer JE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4314268 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature