Group Living on Trees Does Not Elevate Inbreeding Risk in Shedao Pit Vipers Gloydius shedaoensis

摘要

Group living has increasingly been emphasized due to its potential consequence on inbreeding, nevertheless, the relationship between group living and inbreeding risk is largely unknown. The endangered snake species, Shedao pit viper(Gloydius shedaoensis) inhabiting mostly on Shedao Island(meaning "snake island" in Chinese), provides an excellent model system for research on group living and inbreeding risk. Small island area, high population density and extreme seasonal foraging opportunity prompt many individuals to live on the same tree, which likely increase the potential mating among relatives. To confirm this probability, we used genotypes from 13 microsatellites DNA markers and examined the genetic relationships between pair of individuals lived on the same tree. The results showed that snakes on the same tree did not show closer relationships compared with individuals from different trees. The group constructions based on scenarios of parental-offspring, full-sibling, half-sibling as well as cousin were not consistent with tree-based group living. In addition, we did not find significant correlation between pair of individual genetic distance and geographic distance going beyond trees, suggesting group living on trees might not elevate inbreeding risk.