An Analysis For Heritability Of Helping Behavior Of Tibetan Ground Tits Pseudopodoces Humilis In Changdu,Tibet

There are evidences that complex social behaviors have genetic basis and are mainly controlled by multiple genes.Therefore,heritabilities of these traits can be analyzed through quantitative genetics approaches based on genealogical pedigree data.In addition,social behaviors can also be transmitted across generations in non-genetic ways.Altruistic behavior engaged in cooperative breeding is a complex social trait.In order to better understand the evolutionary potential of altruism,it is necessary to evaluate the genetic basis of the behavior and factors affecting the heritability.Tibetan ground tits Pseudopodoces humilis are a passerine bird endemic to the Tibetan Plateau.Facultative cooperative breeding characterizes the social organization of the birds.Using a six-year pedigree and field observation data,the thesis investigated the heritability of helping behavior of a ground tit population in Changdu through animal model.When other effects were not considered,we estimated that there was a significant heritability(h~2=0.52)for helping behavior in this population.However,the heritabilities estimated by different models with different random effects were quite different,which varies from 0.002 to 0.416.This difference suggests that the inheritance of help behavior of ground tits may be affected by maternal effects and cultural or social effects.Our analysis also shows that the tendency of individuals to help is more likely to be affected by the shortage of fields caused by population density,and is uncorrelated to spouse shortage caused by the imbalance of sex ratio in the population.Our results show that there are many factors that affect the heritability of help behavior of ground tits.Parental effects and other non-genetic inherited effects need to be considered in order to correctly predict the response of help behavior to selection.