DOI: 10.5061/dryad.nh3d2
title: Data from: Has the inbreeding load for a condition-dependent sexual signalling trait been purged in insular lizard populations?

description: Sexually selected traits are often condition-dependent and are expected to
 be affected by genome-wide distributed deleterious mutations and
 inbreeding. However, sexual selection is a powerful selective force that
 can counteract inbreeding through purging of deleterious mutations.
 Inbreeding and purging of the inbreeding load for sexually selected traits
 has rarely been studied across natural populations with different degrees
 of inbreeding. Here we investigate inbreeding effects (measured as
 marker-based heterozygosity) on condition-dependent sexually selected
 signalling trait and other morphological traits across islet- and mainland
 populations (n = 15) of an endemic lizard species (Podarcis gaigeae). Our
 data suggest inbreeding depression on a condition-dependent sexually
 selected signalling character among mainland subpopulations with low or
 intermediate levels of inbreeding, but no sign of inbreeding depression
 among small and isolated islet populations despite their higher overall
 inbreeding levels. In contrast, there was no such pattern among ten other
 morphological traits which are primarily naturally selected and presumably
 not involved in sexual signalling. These results are in line with purging
 of recessive deleterious alleles, or purging in combination with
 stochastic fixation of alleles by genetic drift, for a sexual signalling
 character in the islet environment, which is characterized by low
 population sizes and strong sexual selection. Higher clutch sizes in islet
 populations also raise interesting questions regarding the possibility of
 antagonistic pleiotropy. Purging and other non-exclusive explanations of
 our results are discussed.
description: DataDescriptionRunemarkDescribes the contents of the files submitted to DryadGeographic_localities_Runemark_et_alGPS coordinates for field sites.Microsatellite_Data_Runemark_et_al.txtMicrosatellite data which was used to calculate expected heterozygosity for the populations. Population abbreviations are as in the manuscript.Patch_size_He_population_level_Runemark_et_alData on patch size, expected heterozygosity and morphological traits per population.Individual_patch_size_HePatch size and level of heterozygosity per individual. Please read the discussion in the manuscript which deals with some of the reasons to why analyzing inbreeding effects with such microsatellite markers WITHIN populations may not be ideal, which is why this paper is based on between population comparisons.Clutch_size_HL.txtData on clutch size and HL, a measure of heterozygosity (see paper for details) for individual females. Population abbreviations are as in the paper.Matings_He.txtContains information on percentage of no-choice trials with females that led to matings for males from the specified populations and the expected heterozygosity of the populations. Population abbreviations are as in the manuscript.blueRegionsThe matlab script used to identify the percentage of the lizards trunks that are covered by the blue patches. The program Matlab (Mathworks Inc) is required for running this script. Read the instructions in RunemarkDataDescription.txt and on the command line in the Matlab window.Test_lizard_1.jpg image which can be used for testing the matlab script.Test_lizard_23-way_selection_type_analysis.txt