
Henrik Smith
Professor

Heritability of tarsus length in cross-fostered European Starling broods
Author
Summary, in English
A cross-fostering experiment demonstrated that tarsus length of European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) was heritable. The tarsus length of the foster-parent had no effect. A full-sib resemblance analysis showed that sibs were much more similar in tarsus length than explained by heritability alone. This was partly due to an effect of female mating status on offspring tarsus length. When nestling growth was retarded in secondary females' nests due to reduced male assistance, the increased environmental variation in tarsus length masked the heritability.
Department/s
- Centre for Environmental and Climate Science (CEC)
- Biodiversity
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science
Publishing year
1993
Language
English
Pages
318-322
Publication/Series
Heredity
Volume
71
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Macmillan
Topic
- Zoology
- Ecology
Keywords
- cross-fostering
- ecological genetics
Status
Published
Research group
- Biodiversity and Conservation Science
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1365-2540