Correlated response of nesting behavior to selection on voluntary wheel-running activity in one year old house mice (Mus domesticus)

The influence of genetic correlations over the life span of an organism has rarely been studied and is little understood. Knowledge of the influences of genetic correlations across ontogeny will further the understanding of the effect of correlated responses to selection across ontogeny and hence the evolution of organisms. In previous studies, nesting behavior was shown to be negatively genetically correlated with high voluntary wheel-running activity at 10 weeks of age. .Because nest building behavior is correlated with Darwinian fitness, these correlations represent a form of evolutionary constraint. Herein nest-building behavior was measured in 53-week-old mice that were from the 16th generations of an artificial selection experiment for high wheel running activity. Because the ontogenetic trajectories for wheel running were significantly different between control and selected mice across ontogeny, we hypothesized that the negative correlated response in nesting behavior would also be maintained. When body mass was statistically excluded from the model, both female and male mice from the selected lines built significantly smaller nests than mice from the control lines; however, when body mass was included in the model, no significant differences were measured. This indicates that the correlatedHonors College, Washington State UniversityBaze, Monica Correlated response of nesting behavior to selection on voluntary wheel-running activity in one year old house mice (Mus domesticus), Washington State University Honors College thesis, Spring 2002, 23 p