Sexual selection affects climate adaptation in collared flycatchers

McFarlane, S. Eryn (author): Uppsala universitet,Institutionen för ekologi och genetik

Ålund, Murielle (author): Uppsala universitet,Institutionen för ekologi och genetik,Qvarnström

Sirkiä, Päivi M. (author): Finnish Museum of Natural History, Zoology Unit, University of Helsinki, Finland

Qvarnström, Anna (author): Uppsala universitet,Institutionen för ekologi och genetik

(creator_code:org_t)

Abstract Subject headings

The role of sexual selection in climate adaptation is debated. We tested whether sexual selection has the potential to speed up adaptation to thermal conditions in a natural population of collared flycatchers. Based on a three-year cross-fostering experiment, we found that the size of a sexually selected trait predicted offspring metabolic rate: male collared flycatchers with large forehead patches sired offspring with low metabolic rate regardless of the ambient temperature. Thus, there was a stable significant relationship between forehead patch size of genetic fathers and offspring metabolic rate. Nestlings with high metabolic rate experienced a survival advantage when growing under warm temperatures, while the opposite was true in cold environments. Our study shows that females can modulate their offspring’s physiology through mate choice, and that sexual selection can thus affect climate adaptation.

By the author/editor: McFarlane, S. Er ...; Ålund, Murielle; Sirkiä, Päivi M.; Qvarnström, Anna

About the subject

NATURAL SCIENCES: NATURAL SCIENCES; and Biological Scien ...; and Evolutionary Bio ...

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