DOI: 10.5061/dryad.9s4mw6mrr
title: Inbreeding accelerates reproductive senescence, but not survival senescence, in a precocial bird

description: Inbreeding depression is predicted to increase with age because natural
 selection is less efficient at purging deleterious alleles that are only
 expressed later in life. However, empirical results are scarce, and
 equivocal between studies. Here we performed controlled matings between
 related and unrelated individuals of domesticated Japanese Quail (Coturnix
 japonica) and monitored the performance of their offspring for all fitness
 components over their complete life course. We found rapid senescence in
 adult survival and egg-laying performance, and inbreeding depression at
 all life stages (reduced embryo viability, increased age at maturity, as
 well as reduced adult survival and reproduction). Inbreeding depression
 did not increase at later ages for survival, but did so for egg laying,
 thereby accelerating reproductive senescence. Moreover, the effect of
 inbreeding on egg laying persisted after correcting for lifespan,
 indicating that both survival and reproduction were independently affected
 by inbreeding. We suggest that in heterogeneous populations
 intra-generational purging may at earlier ages already select out the
 individuals that are homozygous for the specific alleles responsible for
 depressed survival, preventing the appearance of increased inbreeding
 depression in survival with age. Given that inbreeding affects
 reproduction independent of survival this should not apply to reproductive
 senescence or homogeneous populations, which may explain equivocal results
 between traits and studies.
description: All data represent raw survival and egg-laying data at various
 life stages over the complete lifespan of female Japanese Quail, collected
 from a captive population kept at the Institute of Avian Research in
 Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
description: # Inbreeding accelerates reproductive senescence, but not survival
 senescence, in a precocial bird
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9s4mw6mrr](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.9s4mw6mrr) ## Description of the data and file structure Data on hatching success, survival to maturity, age of sexual maturity, age-specific daily adult survival, and age-specific egg-laying rate of Japanese Quail (*Coturnix japonica*), analysed in relation to their individual inbreeding coefficient (F). All individuals were bred, kept, and monitored over their complete lifespan at the Institute of Avian Research in Wilhelmshaven, Germany.  ### Files and variables #### File: Inbreeding\_manuscript\_JAE\_dataset.xlsx **Description:** 5 separate worksheets for 1) data on hatching success of all eggs, 2) data on the survival to, and age of, sexual maturity of all hatchlings, 3) data on lifespan of all adult females, 4) data on age-specific daily survival of all adult females, and 5) data on age-specific daily egg laying rate of all adult females. The variable definitions apply to all worksheets in which they are listed. ##### Variables * Hatching year = The year in which the individual hatched. * Father identity = A unique identifier of the father of the individual. * Mother identity = A unique identifier of the mother of the individual. * Pair identity = A unique identifier for the specific combination of parents of the individual. * Inbreeding = A categorical variable that represents whether the individual was the result of a mating between related parents (1 = yes, 0 =no). * F = An individual's inbreeding coefficient. * Hatching success = A binary number representing whether an individual egg hatched (1 = yes, 0 = no). * Sex = Sex of the individual (male or female). * Age at maturity = The age, in days, at which an individual started the onset of reproductive activity. * Survival to maturity = A binary number representing whether an individual hatchling survived to the age of onset of reproductive activity (1 = yes, 0 = no). * Lifespan = The age, in days, at which the individual died. * Age = The current age of the individual, in days. * Survival = A binary number representing whether an individual survived that day (1 = yes, 0 = no). * Laying egg = A binary number representing whether an individual laid an egg that day (1 = yes, 0 = no). ## Code/software The Excel worksheet was used in the basic version (.xlsx) and loaded in the R software (version 4.1.3, R Foundation for Statistical Computing). ## Access information NA