Meeting Abstract

P2.63  Jan. 5  Heterozygosity-Fitness Correlations in a Population of Collared Lizards, Crotaphytus collaris HRANITZ, J.M.*; WARTKO, D.; YEANY, L.; BAIRD, T.A.; Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania; University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond jhranitz@bloomu.edu

The mechanisms of positive correlations between heterozygosity and fitness traits in organisms have been difficult to resolve and, consequently, two competing hypotheses predict mechanisms for these correlations in nature. To test predictions of these hypotheses, we used molecular methods on a natural population of C. collaris. We genotyped lizards at four allozyme loci and four microsatellite loci , combined genotypes with three field measures of fitness (overwintering survivorship, scale asymmetry, and femoral pore asymmetry), and examined correlations between heterozygosity and fitness traits. Multilocus heterozygosity (MLH) was not correlated with any of the fitness measures. Single-locus heterozygosity (SLH) � fitness correlations wee not significant, except one negative correlation (P=0.002) between esterase (ES-2) heterozygosity and femoral pore asymmetry. Because MLH did not correlate with fitness and SLH heterozygosity at non-coding microsatellite were not spuriously correlated with fitness traits, neither hypothesis was fully supported. We calculated squared allelic distance (d2) among four microsatellite loci to evaluate fine-scale population structure on heterozygosity-fitness correlations. Squared allelic distance was not correlated with fitness. These results indicated overdominance at the ES-2 locus with low support for affects of population structure in establishment of heterozygosity-fitness correlations in this population.