title: 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, heterozygosity of the marker panel explained 51% of variation in inbreeding. Inbreeding explained approximately 4% of the variation in body mass and is thus a minor, although significant source of variation in body mass in this population. The study of HFC is attractive for game- and conservation-oriented wildlife management because it presents an affordable and readily used approach for genetic monitoring that allowing identification of fitness costs associated with genetic substructuring in what may seem like a homogeneous population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University Hill 20014 University of Turku, Turku, Finland ; ARONIA Research and Development Institute at NOVIA University of Applied Sciences and Åbo Akademi University Raseborgsvägen 9, 10600, Ekenäs, Finland.
authors.forename: Jon E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Brommer
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki PO Box 65(Viikinkaari 1), 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Jaana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kekkonen
authors.affiliation: Finnish Wildlife Agency Fantsintie 13-14, 00890, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Mikael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wikström
keywords: Cervid; heterozygosity; inbreeding; introduced population; microsatellite; population genetics