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PROBLEMS IN THE USE OF GENETIC SIMILARITY TO SHOW RELATEDNESS
Author(s) -
Schwartz Orlando A.,
Armitage Kenneth B.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
evolution
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.84
H-Index - 199
eISSN - 1558-5646
pISSN - 0014-3820
DOI - 10.1111/j.1558-5646.1983.tb05552.x
Subject(s) - systematics , library science , citation , biology , similarity (geometry) , natural history , genetic similarity , genealogy , history , ecology , sociology , computer science , artificial intelligence , demography , taxonomy (biology) , population , genetic diversity , image (mathematics)
Genetic heterogeneity from allozyme data in social mammals has received recent attention as a tool to show degree of relatedness among colony members. Whether one is considering a colonial anemone, a prairie bunchgrass, or a swarm of insects, the idea of using electrophoretic genetic heterogeneity as a tool to infer relatedness in social organisms is appealing. In many instances a naturally occurring aggregation may be readily observed, but relatedness among group members is known only by observing a population until a complete turnover of individuals occurs. For many long-lived species, or species with complex or obscure life cycles, this is impractical. Here we used data we have obtained from a social mammal to evaluate the use of electrophoretic genetic heterogeneity to determine relatedness. If social groups are kin groups, sociality may result from behaviors which favor the incorporation of known individuals, who are likely to be closely related, into the society and the rejection of strangers, who are likely to be unrelated or distantly related. Thus, sociality may result from kin selection and inclusive fitness (Hamilton, 1964; West Eberhard, 1975). Qualitative conditions that promote genetic heterogeneity among social groups and increase the relatedness of group members include: (1) the restriction of mate selection to those within the social group, (2) a low exchange rate of individuals among groups, and (3) preferential recruitment of juveniles into their natal group (McCracken and Bradbury, 1978). These criteria were used by McCracken and Bradbury in evaluating the kinship within colonies of phyllostomid bats on the island of Trinidad. They found that all juveniles dispersed from their natal colony, that recruitment into harems was random, and that harems and colonies were not heterogeneous at three allozyme loci. Thus they concluded that relatedness among colony members was low and sociality in this species at this location was not a result of kin selection. Here we consider the opposite case in which